November Election Will Be Costly for Cities, Counties

None by KCPW

(KCPW News) By Governor's decree, all cities and counties in the state will conduct elections this November to allow a public referendum on vouchers. Salt Lake County will rack up 500-thousand dollars in extra expenses, as a result. County Mayor Peter Corroon worries he'll be stuck holding the bill, though state officials have said they may help cover some of the cost:

"Right now we don't know where that money's gonna come from," says Corroon. "I think they've indicated they might help with some of the costs, but not in this year coming up, so we might have to wait and conduct the elections and hope the Legislature will come up with some money next year."

State election officials say cities and counties could save money by not using the more expensive electronic voting machines. But County Clerk Sherrie Swensen says the old punchcard systems are no longer available. That leaves only hand-counted paper ballots as a fall-back, which seems impractical to Swensen. However, South Salt Lake City Councilman Bill Anderson says it's probably the way his town will go.

"The Legislature makes decisions frequently that they think are good ideas, without really understanding what the impacts are on the cities," says Anderson. "And then we've got to work it out."

Before the Governor's executive order, November was to be only a municipal election, leaving many unincorporated parts of Salt Lake County without the need for a ballot. Mayor Corroon will meet with the Lieutenant Governor next week in hopes of securing state funding to offset the election costs.

Email to a friendPosted in KCPW Newsroom. Copyright 2008 KCPW