Elections panel seeks less money for '07

YOUNGSTOWN -- The Mahoning County Board of Elections is asking county commissioners for 2,029,601 in 2007, 452,134 less than the figure budgeted for it in 2006.
Joyce Kale-Pesta, deputy elections director, said the decline is due to 2007's being an off-year with fewer expenses.
Elections Director Tom McCabe explained that off-years, which feature only local elections, have lower costs partly because fewer temporary employees are needed due to lower voter turnout, fewer absentee ballots, fewer new registrations and fewer petitions to check. All of the board's funding comes from the general fund, which is the county's main operating fund.
Elections officials presented their 2007 budget request to the county commissioners Tuesday.
The county has 176,207 registered voters, and the board has 12 full-time, year-round staff members, supplemented by temporary workers at election times, Kale-Pesta said. McCabe said the elections staff swells to as many as 1,300 on election day, including poll workers in each precinct. Personnel costs, including temporary workers, account for 65 percent of the board's budget, he said.
In the past four years, the board has reduced costs substantially by reducing the number of precincts from 416 to 287. Each precinct must be staffed on election days by four poll workers, he noted. Seven years ago, the board reduced its year-round staff from 18 to 12 in a buyout, thereby reducing costs, he added.