Election season is again upon us. Nassau voters will be heading to the polls to participate in local elections to the Nassau County Legislature, town councils, and mayoralties. Whether you’re a Democrat, Republican, or Independent, I think we can all agree that our elections should be well-run and accessible.

Sadly, that is far from the case in Nassau County.

Starting with election results. Do you want to see how Nassau citizens voted in 2021?

Well, too bad, because the Nassau Board of Elections does not even have an elections archive! The Board of Elections website only displays the results of the most recent election, which is then wiped when new elections are held.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

An elections department that doesn’t even have election results? This is the minimum standard for any elections administration.

Folks shouldn’t have to review old newspaper articles to get election results. The Suffolk County, New York City, and Westchester County Board of Elections get this right. Why can’t Nassau?

Speaking of the Nassau Board of Elections, I want to let you in on a little secret: it’s not a board. It doesn’t have any board members, there are no public meetings to attend, and there are no agenda minutes.

Instead, two Commissioners, appointed by the party chairmen of the Nassau Democratic and Republican Party, run our elections.

Who are these commissioners? What are their powers and responsibilities? What do they look like? I wish I could tell you, but the Nassau Board of Elections website doesn’t even provide backgrounds or biographies!

What do the chairmen of the two big parties have to do with elections, anyway? Why do they get to appoint unaccountable Commissioners to run our elections in a county where more than a quarter of the voters are Independent?

These commissioners have made it very difficult to conduct election analysis.

Unlike the NYC Board of Elections, where all geographical election data and district boundaries data are free and open to the public, the Nassau Board of Election will charge you several hundred dollars for a piece of paper with the information.

Not the useful computer information—a piece of paper.

This makes it difficult to conduct post-election analysis for campaigns, individuals, and the press. Beautiful maps like the one that Newsday made in 2021, that shade the margin of victory for each candidate in every individual voting precinct, are nearly impossible to make with a multi-hundred-dollar paywall in the way and slow government correspondence to boot.

I couldn’t possibly discuss the issue of election reform without discussing election worker pay.

This issue is near and dear to my heart, as I have been an election worker in all three past elections, starting in 2020 when I turned 18. This year, I’m not going back, and the reason is obvious.

Election workers work a grueling 18-hour shift. Unlike retail workers, who deal with rude and ungrateful customers, election workers deal with rude and ungrateful individuals who threaten them with the police, legal recourse, and writing you up to the authorities for no reason.

And all that for $290, a number that has stayed the same for three years.

Against the backdrop of high inflation numbers, this means pay has effectively been cut a staggering 15% from three years ago. On a per-hour basis, $290 barely breaks the state minimum wage.

We get paid below fast-food workers. Nothing wrong with fast food work, but shouldn’t there be a little more luster attached to the people who are supposedly “making our democracy work”?

Predictably, older election workers are quitting and young people, who we need to be involved in politics, aren’t even considering joining. And that’s why we end up with long lines on Election Day and the closing of voting areas closer to your home: there simply aren’t enough workers to fill the roles.

Nassau County is home to 1.4 million people. We’re one of the wealthiest counties in not just New York State, but the country.

The Nassau County Legislature can do better. Make the board more transparent, open up election information, and pay our workers more. Raise the standards of the Nassau County Board of Elections to something that we the citizens deserve and would be proud to have.

Matthew Adarichev

Westbury