Dozens of Prince George's County college, high school and even junior high school students say they got an unwelcome civics lesson when they were promised -- but never received -- payments of up to $125 to work the polls for Gov.-elect Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.

Under state election laws, it is illegal for candidates to pay so-called "walking-around money" to Election Day workers distributing materials on their behalf.

The students, numbering between 40 and 50, are the second group to surface with allegations of apparently illegal activities on behalf of Ehrlich's successful campaign.

Nearly 200 homeless people recruited from a Washington, D.C., shelter said they also were recruited and worked the polls in Prince George's County for Ehrlich.

Unlike the students, many of those workers were paid $150 apiece the day after the election, but only after police had been called to the shelter to quell a disturbance.

Paul Schurick, spokesman for the Ehrlich campaign, said he had heard reports of workers claiming they were not paid.

"We're looking into it," Schurick said. "We started hearing some of these reports last week."

Asked if he was aware of any agreement to pay Election Day workers, Schurick said, "No! No! That would be wrong."

Both the homeless workers and the students said they had been questioned about their Election Day employment by an investigator from the office of State Prosecutor Stephen Montanarelli.

Montanarelli declined yesterday to comment on any of the details of the continuing investigation, but said he hoped to complete the probe in the near future, possibly by early next month.

"I'm not going to deny that our investigators talked to these people," he said.

Montanarelli previously acknowledged that he was investigating allegations of illegal Election Day activities registered by the Ehrlich campaign against his Democratic opponent, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. A member of his staff also interviewed the workers from the Washington homeless shelter.

Sherita Bellinger, whose two children, Crystal, 13, and Billy, 16, were recruited to hand out Ehrlich literature at the Frederick Douglass High School in Upper Marlboro, said Ehrlich staffers just disappeared and stopped taking phone calls from the unpaid workers, including her children.

"This is a very, very horrible thing to do to kids on their first exposure to our political system," said Bellinger.

Tai Dozier, a Bowie State University junior who says she was recruited by the Ehrlich campaign, described the Election Day experience as "a scam from the start." She said she agreed to do the job because she was out of money and her mother's birthday was coming up.

"I didn't think of it when we were out there standing in the cold, but afterward I felt that we were being deceived," Dozier said, noting that she was instructed to wear a "Democrats for Ehrlich" T-shirt, which had a picture of Ehrlich's running mate Michael S. Steele.

"They had young African-Americans standing out there like we were supporting him, when they know most African-Americans are Democrats," Dozier said.

Andrea Henry, another Bowie junior, said she saw fliers on the campus the week before the elections seeking poll workers. She said the flier gave a phone number to call for further information, but did not indicate party affiliation or the name of the candidate seeking workers.

She said she called the number and was told that the Ehrlich campaign was paying fees ranging from $85 to $125, depending on the hours worked, to distribute campaign materials.

Henry, the other Bowie students and the high school and junior high school students said they were instructed to attend a training session the Sunday evening before the election at Ehrlich campaign headquarters near New Carrollton.

Jerrod Hines, a Bowie sophomore, said he attended the session with other Bowie students.

The instructions, they said, were given by a man named Steven Martin, an Ehrlich campaign worker.

Hines and Henry said they opted for a 7 a.m.-to-8 p.m. shift, for which they were promised $125, plus meals. They said their assignment was to hand out campaign materials promoting Ehrlich's candidacy.

"We were passing out fliers and T-shirts," said Henry, adding that they continued working through the cold and rain.

At the end of the day, Henry said she and other workers were told they would be paid the next day at the campaign office in near New Carrollton. But there was no payment then and no payment when they returned again, as instructed, the next Saturday.

Hines, Henry and other students said that a woman named Rashida from the Ehrlich campaign had told them they might be paid Saturday.

Henry said that on one of their trips to Ehrlich's campaign office to get paid, the only person around was an investigator from Montanarelli's office, who took their names and numbers.

Campaign finance reports filed by Ehrlich's campaign committee show that a payment of $1,700 was made to Martin on Oct. 17. A $2,300 payment was made to a Rashida Hogg on the same day. Neither Martin or Hogg could be reached.