This year’s general election will be costlier than most, which is something Florida’s 67 county supervisors are finding out as they prepare to print the ballots.
St. Johns County Elections Supervisor Vicky Oakes said a two page ballot is necessary to accommodate 13 proposed amendments to the state constitution.
“When there is a two page ballot, it almost doubles the cost of my election because now instead of a voter getting one ballot, they get two. I send sample ballots to every registered voter so now it’s doubled the cost of that. Every vote-by-mail ballot I mail costs more. I have to have more election workers. I have to have more voting equipment sent out to my precinct.”
Oakes said that’s on top of additional cyber security measures to prevent electronic meddling, plus an increase in registered voters.
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All of it means she will have to ask the St. Johns County Commission for a nearly $300,000 increase to help pay for the November 6 election.
The cost of the August 28 primary election is included in Oakes’ budget for this fiscal year, which ends June 30.
Contact reporter Cyd Hoskinson at choskinson@wjct.org, 904-358-6351 and on Twitter @cydwjctnews.
Photo used under Creative Commons license.
