NORWICH – Having spent tens of thousands of dollars on primary elections this year and seeing a low voter turnout, the Chenango County Board of Elections says votes are costing local taxpayers big money and few are taking advantage of what they pay for.
According to the Board of Elections, Chenango County footed a total $19,550 for the primary vote held earlier this month. While the election was a county-wide Democratic primary and a Republican primary for residents in the 52nd Senatorial District, it drew only 764 Democratic votes (approximately 11 percent of the county’s 7,145 registered Democratic voters) and only 1,610 Republican votes (approximately 19 percent of 8,362 Republican voters in the county’s 52nd Senatorial District).
In all, the average cost to the county was near $7.34 per vote, according to the department.
Turnout wasn’t much better in June’s Republican primary, when only 2,671 (22 percent) of the 12,386 eligible voters headed to the polls. Figuring the $17,500 cost to the county, that election cost taxpayers approximately $6.55 per vote.
“These are our local tax dollars that pay for this,” said county Republican Party Commissioner Mary Lou Monahan. “The more people who turn out to vote, the less the cost per vote. There were at least six districts (in the September primary) that had less than 1 percent of the voters in their district come out to the polls on the Democratic side.”
The list of expenses for each election is extensive, Monahan added. It includes fuel and truck rental to transport voting machines, expense of poll workers, absentee ballots and postage, poll booklets and ballot booklets, and voting machine technicians.
Even so, they are expenses required by federal law, explained Democratic Party Commissioner Carol Franklin. “Often people wait until there is a big issue, or they don’t vote because they think their vote won’t matter ... One or two votes actually can make a difference,” Franklin said. “If this is (the county’s) tax dollars that are being spent on mandated costs, we want people to come out and vote. And if people have a question, we want them to contact us.”
With the November general elections on the horizon, the department is facing a light election year in 2015, with only one possible county-wide primary for District Attorney and several town primaries, in addition to the general election. However, it’s also looking to 2016, with three possible county-wide primaries and a general election.
Said Monahan, “There’s a lot of things that are decided by an election. This dictates what happens in your state, and it dictates what happens in your community; so it’s important to get out and vote.”
The Board of Elections reminds county residents that deadline to register for the 2014 general election is Oct. 10.
For additional elections information, contact the Board of Elections at 337-1760.