Politics & Government

2012 Elections Expenditures Will be Over Budget

Clerks in both Mount Pleasant and Sturtevant say by the time elections wrap up this year, costs will be more than either municipality budgeted.

Despite the spector of recall elections looming before them, trustees in both and last year budgeted for four elections instead of six.

In Mount Pleasant, Clerk/Treasurer Veronica Rudychev said that total amount budgeted for elections this year is $58,482. With four elections down and two still to go, she estimates costs are just about at $60,000. Average that out to $15,000 per election, and the village is looking at allocating another $30,000 or more from other funds to balance the clerk's office budget.

"The primary costs for an election are ballots and poll workers," she said. "I thought we might be about $20,000 over budget by the end of the year, but the June election was so busy we needed more of everything."

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Mary Cole, interim administrator and clerk/deputy treasurer in Sturtevant, said elections there typically cost an average of $2,000. With just over $9,000 budgeted for 2012, Cole will need an additional $3,000 to cover the shortfall.

"We did only budget for four elections and not six," she said. "But our budget is okay to absorb the extra costs."

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What will drive the overages is the amount of traffic that moves through polling locations. The June 5 recall election recorded turnouts in both villages of close to 80 percent and huge numbers of same-day registrations.

Mount Pleasant has seven different locations where 11 to 13 poll workers each will staff the same-day voter registration table, check voters in, provide touch-screen voting assistance and collect voter numbers as residents feed their ballots into the machines.

"If August is just as busy, or November is even busier, then we'll probably be more than $30,000 over budget," Rudychev said.

A couple of polling locations in Mount Pleasant may require additional staffing because of how Assembly districts were redrawn.

"If there are mulitple Assembly races at a polling location, I will probably ask for more people to help cut down on confusion and keep lines moving," Rudychev added.

All Sturtevant residents vote at Village Hall, but Cole said she will still have 11 to 13 workers in August and November to avoid any back-ups.

Both Rudychev and Cole ordered ballots for a 60 percent turnout in August, similar to the number of voters who cast ballots in the May recall primary. But for the November election - which will decide state Assembly seats, the state Senator for the new 22nd District, who wins the First Congressional District, and who wins the White House - both clerks are planning for 100 percent turnout just like they did in June.

Unlike with some budget items, participating in elections is not an option. The clerks say making formal requests for the funds to cover costs will wait until after the final bills from the November elections are processed.


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