Special election cost comes in cheaper

GENEVA -- Kane County's cost for the March 8 special congressional election was a little less than expected.

County Clerk John Cunningham said Monday the election cost about $418,000, about $80,000 less than he estimated before the election. On March 8, Geneva Democrat Bill Foster topped Republican Jim Oberweis in the race to finish out retired U.S. Rep. Dennis Hastert's term in the 14th Congressional District.

Cunningham had estimated the cost at $500,000 for the special election, which included an additional day of election judges and polling places, not to mention having county clerk staff work a long Saturday. About $270,000 of that alone was for judges and workers.

Cunningham told the county board's Public Service Committee on Monday it appears the final cost was $418,000. He will firm that final number up, and committee members, along with Finance Director Cheryl Pattelli, will discuss how to pay for it at the committee's May meeting.

If that was the good news, financially, the bad news would be that the county might need more money for November's general election.

While only about 23 percent turned out for that March 8 election, the turnout is expected to be twice to three times that in November, a presidential election. And Cunningham told committee members they might need to equip and staff anywhere from five to 10 new precincts for that election.

Cunningham needs to split up some precincts because they have grown too large.

As an example, one precinct in Elgin has 3,000 registered voters in it, while state law says precincts should be split when they reach between 600 and 800 voters.

The split precincts keep down election day lines. But they also create new expense, because each time a precinct is split, it creates the need for another polling place -- and the equipment and people to run that polling place.

Cunningham said if the Reapportionment Committee were to split all 10 precincts he has brought to them, it would cost an additional $250,000 "in just hardware alone."

"With the electronic (eSlate) equipment, we can handle more voters per precinct," Cunningham said. "Beyond the costs, the problem is the judges. The problem is recruitment of enough judges."

Between the March 8 special election and the potential precinct splits, Public Service Chairman Michael Kenyon, R-South Elgin, said Kane faces a challenge in financing elections.

"It takes a lot of money to run an election," he said. "A dictatorship is much cheaper."