High Cost for Mandated College Polling Stations
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson Earlier this year, SB 3012 was signed into law and created a pilot project mandating that election authorities provide early voting sites on public university campuses in their jurisdiction. The project is only for the 2010 general election, but some county clerks have voiced their opposition to the mandate citing the high costs for small...
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson
Earlier this year, SB 3012 was signed into law and created a pilot project mandating that election authorities provide early voting sites on public university campuses in their jurisdiction. The project is only for the 2010 general election, but some county clerks have voiced their opposition to the mandate citing the high costs for small numbers of votes. Illinois Statehouse News reports:
Champaign County Clerk Mark Sheldon and other clerks in university counties objected to Senate Bill 3012 when lawmakers approved it, saying they didn’t have the money for what they expected to be little reward. Their prediction appears to have come true.
“It’s been a real, real challenge for us logistically in a time when we’re cutting budgets in all sorts of other ways,” Sheldon said. “So from that standpoint it’s been difficult.”
He said that of the 800 estimated early votes cast since Oct. 11 through Thursday, only about 74 of them were cast by voters 23 or younger.
The law was intended to get out the vote among college students in a mid-term election that so far has lacked the energy of the 2008 election that vaulted Barack Obama to the oval office.
Set to retire after Tuesday’s election, DeKalb County Clerk Sharon Holmes spent $25,000 on four additional voting machines and a couple of laptops, and their move onto campus in order to comply with the new mandate.
During the four days of early voting on the Northern Illinois University campus, election booths were set up in four dorms, along Greek row, and a couple of other places near the campus area. Of the 323 votes cast, about 95 were cast by students, Holmes said.
“So we’re looking at close to $25,000 — or maybe more — $25,000 for 323 votes,” she said. “Now do you think that’s worth it?”
You can read the full story at the Illinois Statehouse News website.