Elections an expensive necessity

Elections are costly, whether it's a small town with a few hundred voters or a large metropolitan city with thousands.

"Elections ... can take a lot out of a city's budget," said Perry Roquemore, executive director of the Alabama League of Municipalities.

On Tuesday, St. Florian officials conducted the town's first election in eight years.

On the ballot were the most candidates to ever run for election in the town, along with a liquor referendum.

"We're estimating the election to cost us about $6,000, and then we're going to have a runoff for the first time," Town Clerk Carlene Moomaw said.

That means it cost the town an estimated $32.61 per vote.

"It's really amazing when you look at how much it costs to hold an election," Roquemore said. "That's why you want to get people to go to the polls and vote."

Moomaw said that since the town had not had an election in awhile, officials had to guess at how much it would cost.

"We only budgeted about $3,000 for the election, and that's not even including the cost of a runoff, which we never expected because we'd never had one before," she said.

"The runoff will cost about the same, and we'll have less people voting."

In Cherokee, which votes by districts, only 171 of the town's 520 registered voters went to the polls Tuesday.

City officials say the estimated cost for Tuesday's election will be between $6,000-$8,000.

If the final cost is $6,000 for the election, that breaks down to $35.09 per vote. If the cost is $8,000, it breaks down to $46.78 per vote.

"I really wish the turnout had been better," said Cherokee City Clerk Melinda Malone.

She said combining the number of voting places would also help cut costs.

"(Elections) are a big hardship on smaller towns," said Vina City Clerk Sue Raper.

"Every four years, you have to take money out of the general fund to pay for the elections, and you don't really know how much (the elections) will cost. It's money that small towns could use elsewhere," she said.

Muscle Shoals City Clerk Ricky Williams said budgeting for an election is really a matter of guesswork.

"You don't know how much the cost of the election will go up from election to election, so you don't know how much to budget," Williams said.

There were only four candidates seeking two council places in Muscle Shoals in Tuesday's election, with 1,746 residents voting. Williams estimated the cost to the city will be $11,000.

In Florence, the area's largest municipality, city officials are expecting Tuesday's election price tag to be between $30,000-$33,000.

City Clerk Bob Leyde said the city plans a year in advance for the necessary money needed to finance elections.

"We had put money into the general fund last year for this election," Leyde said. "And actually, we budgeted money for a runoff, which luckily we're not going to have this year."

Ann Bragwell said that with only two races on the Phil Campbell municipal ballot, she didn't anticipate a large turnout, and it wasn't.

Of the town's 600 registered voters, only 89 ballots were cast.

"We only had one (election) box, and I didn't order a lot of ballots, so we're anticipating our election costing less than $1,000," Bragwell said. "But still that would be more than $11 per vote."