NORWICH – The Chenango County Board of Elections is joining a state-wide plea to combine the 2016 presidential and congressional primary elections in a move that could save taxpayers in New York State more than $50 million.
The county recently joined a petition administered by the New York State Association of Counties calling on the governor and legislative leaders to combine next year's presidential and congressional primaries. NYSAC argues that doing so would save counties across the state tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of dollars in election costs.
In the last presidential election year in 2012, Chenango County taxpayers alone fronted nearly $25,000 more than what was necessary in order to meet expenses of presidential and congressional primaries, according to the Chenango County Board of Elections.
And with 2016 primaries less than a year away, many counties, including Chenango, are saying the time to consolidate federal primary elections is now.
“We really don't need to have two separate primaries,” said Republican Party Commissioner Mary Lou Monahan, noting that the election schedule isn't determined by local departments, but rather state legislators and handed down by the New York State Board of Elections. “With each primary, we're paying all the associated costs; but if we added more names to the ballot during a single primary, there would be a substantial savings.”
In 2012, the county footed more than $49,000 on two federal primary elections: $25,114 for a presidential primary held in April, and $23,895 for a congressional primary in June. Had those two elections been combined, the county would have saved the entire cost of one of those primaries, said Monahan.
“2016 is going to be a mirror image of 2012. There isn't a cost there that we wouldn't be saving by putting the two together,” she added. “We're taking out the same number of machines, and we're paying all the same costs. It's just that right now, we have to do it two times instead of one.”
The low voter turnout isn't helping matters, either. When it comes to elections, higher voter turnout means lower per vote expense. But voters aren't taking advantage of what they're mandated to pay for, said Monahan. Of the 12,640 voters eligible to cast a ballot for the 2012 April primary, only 1,621 turned out. Factor in the associated costs of holding a primary – such as fuel and truck rental to transport voting machines to polling sites, pay for poll workers and voting machine technicians, absentee ballots, postage, poll booklets and ballot booklets – then the cost to the county was $14.74 per vote.
It was a similar trend for the 2012 June primary, when only 1,621 of the 12,559 eligible voters turned out, equating to a local cost of $14.74 per vote.
The Chenango Board of elections is hoping to see different trends in 2016.
“The challenges here in Chenango County are true for every county in the state,” said Democratic Party Commissioner Carol Franklin, noting that state mandates to hold separate primaries have been in place since 2010. Prior to that, congressional and presidential primaries were held in one election. “If we have to have an election, it would be better if we just load up the ballots. Having (multiple) elections is an expensive proposition.”