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Highlands Today

How Much Do Elections Cost?

Photo Illustration by Jasmina Meyer/Highlands Today

These days, each election costs about 90,000. In the August 26 primary, only 14,214 ballots were cast. So the cost per voter was $6.33.

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By GARY PINNELL

Highlands Today

Published: September 10, 2008

These days, everyone who gets a driver's license is asked the question: "Do you want to register to vote?"

And most answer yes. That's why 64,575 voters are registered in a county with less than 100,000 citizens.

Here's the problem with that answer: it's driving up the cost of elections.

"We have to print a ballot for every one who is registered to vote," said Joe Campbell, supervisor of elections. "If you're going to vote, we have to have a ballot for you."

For the Aug. 26 state primary, for instance, Highlands County paid about $20,000 for ballots, said Norma Stokes, assistant supervisor.

The elections office also hires poll workers, paying them $6.79 per hour (Florida minimum wage) to $10 per hour.

How many are at each of Highlands County's 25 precincts?

"That depends on the precinct," said Campbell. "We have about 300, overall."

For early voting in the Aug. 26 Florida primary, 24 workers manned the three polls in Sebring, Lake Placid and Avon Park. They were paid $10 per hour, or $1,920 per day. For the two-week early voting period, the election office paid $23,000 to employees alone, Campbell estimated.

"Early voting is expensive, there's no doubt about it," Campbell said.

And that doesn't include paying warehouse workers to get voting machines out of the warehouse, and test each machine for logic and accuracy.

Another issue: a light turnout costs more per vote. In November 2004, 41,876 voted. These days, each election costs about $90,000, Stokes estimated. Divide the total number of votes into the cost, and the cost per ballot is about $2.15.

In the Aug. 26 primary, only 14,214 ballots were cast. So the cost per voter was $6.33, Stokes said.

"Taxpayers scream about how much money is spent, but they don't take advantage of it," Stokes said.

Why was turnout so small in the Aug. 26 primary? Apparently, there was little on the ballot that concerned the mass of voters, Campbell speculated. Democrats and Republicans picked their candidate for the District 3 county commission, Susan Benton defeated her opponent for the Democratic nominate for sheriff, and two non-partisan Polk County candidates ran for district judge.

Stokes had a different take: "A lot of people come here to live. They don't know the local candidates. A lot of people only vote for the president."

"Only two things get people out to vote," Campbell explained. "Controversial candidates, and what hits them in the wallet."

There were no tax issues on the August ballot, but there are several on the Nov. 4 ballot. One will be highly controversial, the state questions which will forbid homosexual couples to marry.

Campbell is predicting an historic turnout for the presidential race. "I'm guessing from 70 to 75 percent will turn out." That's more than 48,000 votes in Highlands County.

Gary Pinnell can be reached at gpinnell@highlandstoday.com or 863 386-5828

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