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State may start picking up costs of elections |
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Friday, 11 July 2008 |
Proposed legislation could give county clerks’ offices a financial boost statewide as well as coordinate election procedures throughout the state, Saline County Clerk Freddy Burton said today.
Election officials said Thursday they may ask the state to pick up general election costs for Arkansas’ 75 counties in the proposal that’s expected to cost around $2 million annually.
Secretary of State Charlie Daniels and one of his office’s attorneys, Tim Humphries, reportedly are mulling the funding plan as they work on legislation that would require each county to appoint an election coordinator to be paid for by the state.
A similar election coordinator proposal failed in the Arkansas General Assembly last year.
Burton enthusiastically supports the proposal.
“I think it’s wonderful,” he said. “We thought it was going to happen last year and it all fell through, but now they’re approaching it differently.
“We’ve already got an election coordinator, which some counties don’t have,” he said.
Linda Montalvo, who previously was Burton’s chief deputy clerk, is the county’s election coordinator, he noted.
“Each county has been set up kind of differently, which is why they’re recommending that every one have a coordinator,” Burton said. “We’re already set up for the way this would work, but it would help us financially in paying for Linda’s salary.
Montalvo said today that she attended a meeting for state county clerks Thursday in Hot Springs, where the proposal was discussed.
“Every clerk representative there was in favor of this,” Montalvo said.
“The president of the association said this is the time to do this,” she added. “Everybody realizes they need a single contact person. The elections have gotten more complicated. There is much more work involved.”
Montalvo said representatives of all county clerks’ offices are encouraged to attend the next session of the General Assembly.
Grant funding is being researched to obtain the projected $2 million needed to implement the coordinator system statewide, she noted.
“The counties would receive funding based on population, the number of school districts, the number of cities and the number of registered voters, and the secretary of state would take all of this into consideration in determining the amount of funding each county would receive,” she explained.
“Basically, the Election Commission and coordinator would have a budget to work with,” Montalvo said. “If this happens, it really will be good. It is really needed.”
The state currently pays the cost of conducting primaries in the state, which Daniels said costs the state between $2 million and $2.5 million. Daniels said his office doesn’t have an estimate on how much it would cost the state to pay for general election costs.
In 30-35 of the state’s counties, the county clerk or deputy clerk currently serves as the election coordinator in charge of preparing for the primary and general elections, Humphries said.
“It’s the county clerk who rounds up poll workers ... that tests the machines and all those sorts of those things,” Humphries said.
In addition to Saline and Pulaski counties, about 29 other counties have their own election coordinator. Pulaski County not only has a full-time coordinator but also has several staff members, Humphries said.
A draft of the legislation Humphries showed to lawmakers and clerks would require each county to appoint an election coordinator who would be certified by the state Board of Election Commissioners. Under the proposal, any county that used a coordinator not certified by the state could lose its funding.
Humphries said the coordinator proposal stalled last year after lawmakers could not find funding for the coordinator positions, which he estimated would cost about $2 million annually.
Both Humphries and Daniels said picking up the tab for general elections would be another way to make sure the state doesn’t require the counties to appoint coordinators without providing additional funding.
“There are a number of state issues that counties are responsible for conducting the elections for, and maybe it’s time for the state to step up and help the counties pay for those elections,” Humphries said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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