by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland is more than half-way through the fiscal year, yet he still has over half his budget left. Tuesday, the Ad Hoc Budget Committee made sure Holland and his staff will be ready and fully funded for the Aug. 26 primary.
Tasked with evaluating the 2 percent lapse each of the City’s departments were required to put “below the line” in the current budget year, the Ad Hoc Committee voted to restore about $164,000 of Holland’s nearly $8 million budget. Most of the restored lapse came in the form of personnel costs.
“There are variable costs to putting on an election,” said Council Auditor Kirk Sherman, whose office has worked with the Committee — Council members Stephen Joost, Jack Webb and Mia Jones — to analyze each department line-by-line. “There are two elections this (fiscal) year. One has occurred and the other is in August.”
Holland defended his request to have the lapse restored by explaining that his office doesn’t function like the rest of the City’s departments.
“In our Constitutional office, things are quite different,” said Holland. “We do not operate on a monthly expense that’s even.”
Holland said some years there are between two and four elections. Adding to the uncertainly of his budget is the nature of those elections. With a presidential primary this past winter and general election in August, Holland says there may only be two elections in the fiscal year, but they differ greatly in what they will cost his office.
“You can’t predict turnout,” said Holland, adding that qualifying for many of the state races on the Aug. 26 ballot doesn’t begin until June 16. “When we know who is in, we will know better what the cost will be.”
Holland said one of the major variables is the number of ballots that will be printed. In some precincts, a majority of the voters go to the polls while in other precincts voter turnout is low.
“We have 87,000 inactive voters who have moved but have not given us their new address,” said Holland.
The office will save about $85,000 by reducing the number of early voting sites for the primary from 15 to 10.
Paper ballots will also play a role in holding down the cost of an election. In years past, Holland’s office would print enough ballots to match the number of registered voters in each precinct, with a few extras. That will change this year.
According to Holland, technology will allow his office to print ballots on site depending on the voter’s precinct and what elections they are permitted to help decide. By printing individual ballots on-site, the elections office will only print ballots for those who show up and vote. With several seats in the State Legislature up for grabs locally and a hotly-contested race for State Attorney, Holland says he’s expecting a voter turnout somewhere between 30-35 percent. However, that number will jump dramatically in November. Holland says if the race for president is between Senators Barack Obama and John McCain, he sees voter turnout in the 85 percent range.
“That’s three times higher than normal,” said Holland. “But, that’s on next year’s budget. Do we need the 2 percent? I can’t say that we don’t.”
Joost said it’s important to fund the office because he believes voting is an integral part of the Democratic process.
“I think Mr. Holland is pretty thrifty with his money,” said Joost. “My personal opinion is that we probably should restore the lapse and take it at face value that you (Holland) won’t spend the money. Voting is at the heart of our Democracy and we need to make sure the Supervisor of Elections Office has the tools.”