FEDERAL ELECTION MANDATE WILL AFFECT LOCAL TAXPAYERS  
Guthrie Center Times   09 March 2005

      Federal changes in election laws, made in the wake of the 2000 Presidential voting fiasco in Florida, will have a trickle down effect in Guthrie County during the 2005-2006 budget year.
      During Tuesday's budget hearing, auditor John Rutledge called attention to his own budget which shows a 58.72 percent increase from $176,784 to $280,594.
      "That's basically due to HAVA (Help America Vote Act)," he said. "We're being mandated to make a one-time large purchase of new voting equipment.'
      The new equipment will make it possible for the visually impaired to cast a ballot. Also, voters who may have voted for two candidates for the same position will be alerted by having their ballots kicked out at the polling site.
      "There's no way around the provision for the visually impaired," said Rutledge. "That equipment is needed at every polling place, not just a few precincts."
      Estimated cost of the new equipment is $10,000 per precinct. Guthrie County currently has 18 precincts.
      Additionally, new software is needed for voting machines. One estimate received for software was $55,000, Rutledge noted.
      The auditor said if the county would consolidate precincts, he believes total expense for the new voting equipment could be limited to about $150,000. Of that amount, the state would contribute over $90,000.
      "This is one piece of legislation that just might make it more difficult to vote," Rutledge offered.
      Precinct consolidation hasn't been seriously considered in the past, but is on the supervisor's agenda March 10 at 10:30 a.m.
      Besides the new equipment, supervisors said another reason to consider consolidation is the increasing difficulty of finding poll workers for 18 precincts.