Mahoning to cut at least 37 voting precincts

The Mahoning County Board of Elections will eliminate at least 37 precincts by the November election and make other cuts in an effort to reduce its operating expenses.

Elections Director Thomas McCabe and Deputy Director Joyce Kale-Pesta met today with the three county commissioners, county Administrator George Tablack and Prosecutor Paul J. Gains to talk about ways to cut costs at the board.

The board is on pace to be $185,000 over its $1.32 million budget this year, McCabe said.

The elections board hasn’t made any final decisions on any additional cuts — the board reduced its costs by about $200,000 in January. But McCabe said further cuts would probably add up to about $90,000 to $100,000.

The reduction of precincts from 287 will definitely happen, he and Kale-Pesta said.

Right now, the plan is to get that number down to 250, but it could go lower, they said.

Each precinct costs about $700 to operate per election, they said.

For the complete story, read Wednesday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com