Posted on 10/22/2004 4:19:59 AM PDT by chambley1
Time off for Nonpartisan Poll Work
The administration of elections has become more difficult due to an increase in the number of voters and a decline in the number of nonpartisan poll workers. The United State Election Assistance Commission (USEAC), whose mission is to assist states and localities in upgrading their vote recording equipment, procedures, and training programs, has called upon Federal agencies, businesses, and non-profit agencies to encourage employees to assist counties and cities on Election Day by not requiring them to expend annual leave to do so. The Department of Agriculture has agreed to grant administrative leave to employees volunteering to work as nonpartisan poll workers on Election Day and to take poll worker training before Election Day. Important note: Administrative leave is only being offered for those who wish to work as nonpartisan poll workers. Anyone wishing to work as a partisan poll watcher or engage in get-out-the-vote work on Election Day must take annual leave.
If you wish to join in this extraordinary public service opportunity to assist in the administration of our cherished democratic process, you need to do the following:
1) Obtain your supervisor’s approval. 2) Contact your respective election authority to see if they need help. To find out who to call, click on http://www.eac.gov/poll_worker.asp?format=none. That person will inform you how to sign-up. 3) With your supervisor’s approval, notify your timekeeper of your participation and the period during which you will be off for this public service assignment. 4) Also, please e-mail your name, agency, city and state in which you will be a poll worker to pollworker@usda.gov, so that we can assess the scope with which USDA employees have helped in this year’s election. 5) Be sure to get a certificate of your participation or equivalent documentation from your local election official and give a copy to your timekeeper on your return to work. 6) Finally, after the election, we would like to hear back from you about your experience. Send your comments to the same address: pollworker@usda.gov. This is likely to be a recurring program and we would like to inform the USEAC of our collective experience.
Most of your fellow poll workers will be annuitants, persons on annual leave from their jobs, or simply unemployed – these poll workers will be paid for their services. USDA volunteer poll workers, on the other hand, will receive their regular federal pay during this public service work. The US Office of Government Ethics has advised us that, unlike jury duty, there is no statutory bar to receiving payment for your service, however, the USEAC is informing the election community that since Federal workers are on administrative leave, they need not be offered a stipend other than as warranted for parking and meals.
Thanks,
John Surina Deputy Assistant Secretary for Administration
Surely this must be illegal on some level. Rubbish.
When I was a teenager I worked at a small meat processing plant. The company had to supply an office for the Federal inspector. He actually inspected for about 20 minutes a day and having supposedly already made the rest of his rounds, would sleep in that office for hours on end. When he did come out (sometimes giggling with bloodshot eyes) he and his office reeked of marajuana. At one couple week stretch he kept finding "violations", and would shut us down. When we started buying the sausage casings that he "suggested" we use, the "violations" ceased. I don't know about the USDA on the whole, but the impression I got all those years ago has stayed with me.
Permitted/Prohibited Activities for Employees Who May Participate in Partisan Political Activity
These federal and D.C. employees may-
These federal and D.C. employees may not-
Agencies/Employees Prohibited From Engaging in Partisan Political Activity
Employees of the following agencies (or agency components), or in the following categories, are subject to more extensive restrictions on their political activities than employees in other Departments and agencies:
Administrative Law Judges (positions described at 5 U.S.C. § 5372)
Central Imagery Office
Central Intelligence Agency
Contract Appeals Boards (positions described at 5 U.S.C. § 5372a)
Criminal Division (Department of Justice)
Defense Intelligence Agency
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Elections Commission
Merit Systems Protection Board
National Security Agency
National Security Council
Office of Criminal Investigation (Internal Revenue Service)
Office of Investigative Programs (Customs Service)
Office of Law Enforcement (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms)
Office of Special Counsel
Secret Service
Senior Executive Service (career positions described at 5 U.S.C. § 3132(a)(4))
[Top]
Permitted/Prohibited Activities for Employees Who May Not Participate in Partisan Political Activity
These federal employees may-
Penalties for Violating the Hatch Act
An employee who violates the Hatch Act shall be removed from their position, and funds appropriated for the position from which removed thereafter may not be used to pay the employee or individual. However, if the Merit Systems Protection Board finds by unanimous vote that the violation does not warrant removal, a penalty of not less than 30 days' suspension without pay shall be imposed by direction of the Board.
I work for USDA. We got official word of this yesterday. Please don't think all Federal employees are Dems.
USDA has a presence in virtually every single county in every state in the US (& it's possessions). While many
are career employees, there are quite a lot of POLITICAL
APPOINTEES (in this case Republicans_ --even at the county level--for Rural Development (RD), and Farm Services Agency (FSA). Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) doesn't have political appointees, but tends to have quite a few employees who lean conservative. From my experience, it's pretty much the folks in D.C. who are libs.
I am sure there are employees on both sides of the fence. No matter -- I don't want my taxpayer dollars paying people not to work at the job they were hired for.
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