Effective Dates: 12/08/2023 - Present Previous | Next

TN 10 (12-23)

SL 60001.621 Elected Officials and Election Workers

A. Elected officials

Individuals elected to serve in State or political subdivision positions are generally employees of the entity in which they are elected. In some situations, the elected official’s duties for that entity require the elected official to perform certain duties for other smaller entities within the jurisdiction of the entity in which they were elected (e.g., a county commissioner providing services to an incorporated city within the county). For coverage purposes, the elected official is the employee of the entity in which they were elected with respect to their official duties.

EXAMPLE: A justice of the peace is often an elected official. They are ordinarily a public officer and, therefore, an employee of the political entity for which they perform services, see Social Security Ruling 73-58c.

B. Election workers

Election workers are:

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    Hired by the State or local government;

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    Earn a set fee for each day of work;

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    Monitor, preside over, officiate, or assist in public elections during election period; and

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    May be called to duty at a polling station or at a counting center.

To be considered employees, election workers must be subject to a degree of direction and control.

1. Definitions relating to election work

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    Postal voting—the method of voting in an election where paper ballots are distributed to voters and/or returned to the government by mail, instead of being cast in person at a polling station or via an electronic voting system. Postal voting may also be referred to as "vote-by-mail."

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    Absentee voting—the process by which postal voting is permitted because of a person's absence from the usual voting district, illness, or the like.

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    Early voting—voters may visit an election official’s office, or other satellite voting locations, to cast a vote in-person without explaining why they are unable to vote on Election Day.

2. Duties of an election worker

The duties of an election worker may include one or more of the following:

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    Greet voters, assist at the registration book and/or card encoder machine, accompany each voter to a voting machine, verify voter receipt information, or collect voter cards;

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    Assist the Supervising Judge in opening and closing the polling station;

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    Assist the Supervising Judge and share responsibility for operating the polling station;

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    Open envelopes and sort/prepare postal votes or absentee ballots for counting;

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    Count postal votes or absentee ballots if necessary;

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    Operate vote tally machines; and

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    Seal and store postal votes.

3. Extending coverage to election workers

Election workers who count paper postal or absentee ballots at counting centers or at any other facility are due the same coverage or exclusion provisions, see SL 30001.357 deemed for election workers who assist with balloting at the actual polling stations, see Section 218(c)(8) of the Social Security Act.

To Link to this section - Use this URL:
http://policy.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/1960001621
SL 60001.621 - Elected Officials and Election Workers - 12/08/2023
Batch run: 12/08/2023
Rev:12/08/2023