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Whopping cost increase could end early voting

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By GEORGE WILKENS

gwilkens@tampatrib.com

Published: August 5, 2009

PLANT CITY - Early voting in Plant City municipal elections could become the latest victim of the economic crisis.

"Due to budget constraints, I feel we have no choice but to eliminate early voting," City Clerk Kerri Miller told commissioners at their July 27 meeting.

With a week of early voting, the 2010 municipal election would cost $30,258, according to the office of the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections. The estimate provides for the possibility of a runoff, with early voting for each race plus onsite technical support, overtime and related costs the elections office would charge.

By comparison, last year's city election, including six days of early voting, cost $2,500 to $3,000.

The switch to optical scan voting has significantly increased election costs, Miller said.

Eliminating early voting and other cost-cutting measures could cut the cost of Plant City's election to $9,456, according to a letter Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Phyllis Busansky signed six days before her June 23 death.

Of the 1,601 votes cast in the April 2008 nonpartisan city election, 952 voted early, 426 voted at city hall and 233 voted absentee.

Miller asked for commission input.

"This is an enormous amount of money," especially for so few early votes, said Commissioner Mike Sparkman. Saying absentee voting has been made so simple, Sparkman questioned the need for early voting.

At the suggestion of Commissioner Mary Yvette Thomas Mathis, the commission voted to delay a decision until its Aug. 10 meeting, and asked for additional data.

Mathis requested a breakdown of voting methods during each city election since the 2002 debut of early voting.

Apparently leaning toward continuing early voting, but for fewer than the six days offered in 2008, Mayor Rick Lott asked for a breakdown of its daily costs, which Miller said is about $981.

"I thought two weeks was way too long," he said of the original period the state mandated for early voting. "But I do believe one day is hard in today's schedule."

Early voting is designed to make it easier for voters to cast ballots by providing more days and time to do so. Legislators in 2006 relaxed the mandated two-week period for early voting.

To reduce municipal election costs to the $9,456 level, the city would also eliminate onsite support by an information technology specialist provided by the elections office and by a technician from Premiere Elections Solutions, vendor for the optical scan devices.

Reporter George Wilkens can be reached at (813) 627-4769.

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