Interns Plus Volenteers Equal Efficient Election Spending

None by KCPW

(KCPW News) The reorganization of Utah's Election Office last year meant saying good-bye to State Election Officers for the then newly-elected Utah lieutenant governor Gary Herbert. While critics said this move signaled elections as a low priority for the lieutenant governor, Herbert disagrees.

"The reason we did that, was so we could put more resources into elections," says Herbert. "All that we've done is maximize the utilization of human power. By cross-training people, we've got more people involved in elections than ever before," Herbert adds. "So we certainly have not put elections on any kind of a backburner, or less of a priority."

According to Herbert, maintaining a large staff during non-election years was a waste of Utah's tax-dollars. With the upcoming November elections, Herbert says he will add staffers as needed:

"We will have additional interns, we have volunteers to step up and help us augment the work load, we should have more people on the ground," says Herbert. "We have done the preliminaries, now we will be even better prepared in November, and I expect everything will go as just as smoothly as we've had in the past."

By using volunteers and interns, Herbert says, Utah's Election Office is able to maintain a smaller staff, and spend Utah tax-dollars more efficiently. For more from Herbert, you can listen online or download the entire Midday Metro interview on our website at www.kcpw.org.

Email to a friendPosted in KCPW Newsroom. Copyright 2009 KCPW