Cost of the election: $60 a vote

By: William White | Opelika Auburn News
Published: July 17, 2008

With an estimated cost of $60 a vote, Tuesday’s Republican primary runoff in Lee County was triple the $20-a-vote cost in the June election and 20 times the $3-a-vote cost on Super Tuesday in February.

The November election is likely to have a big turnout, which could drive the per-vote cost to as little as $1.50.

Lee County Probate Judge Bill English said that of the 76,471 registered voters, only 1,087, or 1.4 percent, turned out at one of the county’s 23 polling places Tuesday. With an estimated election cost of $65,000, those 1,087 votes cost about $60 each.

English said that up to 100 percent of the costs associated with state and federal elections, like Tuesday’s statewide runoff, are reimbursed to the county.

His estimated $65,000 cost includes reductions in the number of staff and voting machines at the polling places. November’s presidential election, with the possibility of a voter turnout of 55,000, would increase the estimated election cost to about $85,000.

“We cut way back on poll workers because we knew turnout would be that slim,” he said. “A lot of the veteran poll workers who have been faithful for years, we couldn’t use them.”

English said Tuesday’s election was an ideal situation to train poll workers.

“Come November we will need more poll workers than we have ever had, and we have to train the new ones,” he said. “Yesterday (Tuesday) was the best time to train a new one.”