Members of the Sumner County Commission recently voted to send a proposal to state legislators to either repeal or fund a bill currently being considered that mandates the use of paper ballots in local elections.
“We just purchased new machines that are electronic, and if they mandate paper ballots we’ll have to go to a new system,” County Executive Anthony Holt said. “It could be in the range of $300,000 to buy the new required scanning machines and have them stored. That’s going to be a huge fiscal impact.”
The Voter’s Confidence Act was originally considered in 2008, but it was postponed to see if the state was willing to support the costs of the project.
An amendment calls for the bill to be passed only if the General Assembly agrees to a one-time appropriation of $7.6 million and then $4.1 million every two years after that to reimburse local entities for the costs.
Full Article: County leaders oppose possible paper ballot mandate | The Tennessean | tennessean.com.