County election officials are securing polling places, hiring election judges and bracing for higher costs for this spring’s special election now that any hope that votes will only be cast by mail has been quashed. A bill to give counties the option of making Montana’s May 25 special election a mail-ballot only contest has been all but buried at the Montana Legislature despite support from many county governments. Those counties said the bill would save them money, but some Republican leaders opposed the measure because they said it would give Democrats an edge in the race to fill Montana’s one U.S. House seat. A final effort to move the bill forward failed last Friday, and now that the bill appears dead, county officials are plugging ahead and dealing with the challenges of organizing an election in a hurry.
Charlotte Mills, the Gallatin County clerk and recorder, said a polling place election usually costs the county about $200,000, about double the cost of an all-mail election. The increase in cost largely comes with hiring election judges, fewer of which are needed for an all-mail election.
Aside from paying them, it’s also not easy to find election judges this time of year. Mills said her office has contacted about 200 people who might be available to work the election, and that they typically have close to 300. She said to eliminate the need for more judges, they’ll consolidate processes at some polling places, like having every voter at a polling place report to the same check-in table regardless of precinct.
Full Article: Counties dealing with challenges posed by special election | Politics | bozemandailychronicle.com.