Solution to Zinke's special election cost

Dear Editor,

The November General Election held on November 8, 2016 was the most expensive statewide election on record at over three million dollars. This was due to many factors, including unprecedented voter turnout and the reprinting of ballots due to Libertarian candidate Mike Fellow’s untimely death. As Representative Zinke’s pending appointment looms over Montana, Election Administrators across the state see mounting costs for an unbudgeted election.

Election Administrators have a solution to save taxpayers money. Election Offices are not subsidized by federal or state offices. Elections are funded at the county level by taxpayers. To save taxpayers money, Election Administrators are proposing a bill to conduct the United States Representative Special Election by mail ballot. Conducting a federal special election by mail will save counties upwards of sixty percent – this equates to over a half million dollars of saving, but it also gives counties the option to run the election by polling place, if they prefer.

Here are the points supporting a special election to be conducted by mail:

• It will save taxpayers money. Conducting the special federal election for Representative Zinke’s seat by mail would conservatively save taxpayers statewide between a half a million dollars and three quarters of a million dollars. The total cost for Phillips County for the Federal election in November was just a little over $39,000. If this special federal election is held by mail ballot, Phillips County will save approximately $10,000.

• Allowing for a mail ballot election will help save the taxpayers and the counties money and reduce the extent of the service cuts that counties will inevitably have to make to fund this election.

• Mail ballot elections are extremely secure. Only registered voters receive a ballot in the mail and when the ballot is returned, the voter’s signature is verified before the ballot can be accepted and counted towards the election. If a signature does not match, the ballot is rejected. Montana’s election administrators have been running mail ballot elections for and school elections for over three decades. They have the experience and ability to run this special election as a mail ballot.

• Lack of availability of polling places and trained election judges - Under normal circumstances, election administrators have two years to plan for a federal election and arrange for accessible polling places and contacting the necessary election judges for each polling place. This special election will only allow for three months of planning. Many of the polling places available under ordinary circumstances may not be available for a short-notice election.

These savings can only happen with the support of your elected representatives. Please contact your legislators and ask them to vote YES on the special election mail ballot bill!

Phillips County voters may contact the following:

Senator Mike Lang – 406-444-4800 or by email [email protected];

Representative Casey Knudsen – 406-390-0274 or by email [email protected] ; and Representative Jonathan Windy Boy – 406-945-1805.

Marian Ereaux

Phillips County Clerk & Recorder\

Malta