Early voting loses allure for many city elections in Palm Beach County

By Anthony Man
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted February 10 2005

Three months ago early voting was all the rage. Politicians hailed it as an innovation that would transform elections by allowing people to vote at their convenience. The public responded in droves, with some waiting as long as seven hours in line so they could vote before Election Day.

Now it's being scrapped by local officials throughout Palm Beach County who don't think it's worth the cost. 

Of the 20 municipalities in the county with elections in February and March, only Boca Raton has committed to early voting.

Another 15 had decided against early voting in the event they had contested races. "We didn't think it was something we needed to do or was in our best interest," said Delray Beach City Manager David Harden.

The estimated cost of $10,000 was the major reason Delray Beach won't offer early voting in the March 8 election.

"We felt it was just too expensive considering how many people we think would do this," Mayor Jeff Perlman said.

Because municipal elections don't generate the turnout of major national or statewide elections, Harden said they don't have problems with long lines, so early voting isn't needed as a pressure-relief valve. And people who don't want to vote on Election Day or can't still have the option of no-excuses absentee voting.

Supervisor of Elections Arthur Anderson, who took over last month and is running his first elections, said early voting is good "ideally and theoretically" but not worth it for municipal elections.

"It would be a waste of resources financially," he said.

Champions of early voting think those communities are making shortsighted decisions.

As a leader of Democrat John Kerry's presidential campaign effort in Palm Beach County, state Sen. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, was the most vocal local booster of early voting last year. He said he thinks it would be good for municipal elections for the same reason it was important in 2004: It might encourage someone to vote by making it more convenient.

"I would encourage them to use it," he said. "The turnout in city elections is unfortunately very small. If [early voting] is going on for 15 days ... you'd probably get higher turnout. Even though there's a financial cost to it, I think it's a cost that's worthwhile."

That's the thinking in Boca Raton, where the City Council approved early voting for the March 8 elections.

Mayor Steven Abrams was in New York for the Republican National Convention during last August's primary and nonpartisan elections, so he voted early. "I certainly appreciated having that option."

No one knows how many county voters used early voting last year because the computers weren't programmed to break out that information, said Charmaine Kelly, chief deputy supervisor of elections. She said it was well into the thousands.

Mort Korn, president of the Broken Sound Homeowners Association, said municipal and presidential elections should be handled differently.

"In a municipal election, it's probably not worth the money," he said. "In a national election, it's a good idea."

Korn tried to vote early in last year's presidential election, but after waiting for hours he had to leave for a meeting. He ended up casting his ballot on Election Day.

Harry Ehrlich voted early in last year's presidential election. He lives west of Delray Beach, so doesn't have a municipal election to vote in, but said he'd take advantage of early voting when it's offered.

"It's great," Ehrlich said. "People want to vote early." He said the convenience is good for people who don't want to worry about missing out on Election Day.

Though Abrams' conclusion is different from Perlman's, he agreed it's a balance between cost and benefit. Abrams said the cost needs to be "judged against how many people will avail themselves of it."

Although the supervisor of elections provides the voting machines, each municipality pays for its own elections. Kelly said a rough estimate was $8,000 per municipality, but that didn't include possible extra costs if extra time was required for daily setup or helping people who show up at closing time.

State law establishes early voting for 15 days before an election, for eight hours on weekdays and a total of eight hours each weekend. In response to a letter from Greenacres City Clerk Sondra Hill, the Secretary of State's Office said it's not a yes or no decision. Instead of opting out, municipalities could create shorter time periods for early voting.

Boca Raton is not offering early voting on weekends or the President's Day holiday, which is the 15th day before the March 8 election. Hours will be 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. weekdays Feb. 22-March 7.

Boca Raton estimated that offering early voting on weekdays plus four hours on Saturdays and Sundays would cost $7,000. So the City Council pared it back to weekdays only and estimates the cost might only total $600.

Deputy City Manager George Brown said a municipality offering early voting on the weekends also needs to pay someone at the Supervisor of Elections Office to remain on duty during weekend hours in case of problems.

Even though the overwhelming consensus is against early voting, each community acted on its own, said Tequesta Village Clerk Gwen Carlisle, head of the county Municipal Clerks Association. One reason, Carlisle said, is it would be easier for larger cities to afford. Klein agreed it wouldn't make sense for the smallest communities, such as Briny Breezes with about 400 people or Golf with about 230, to offer days of early voting.

Still, he said he couldn't imagine "any elected official not being on the side of increasing voter turnout."

But County Commissioner Addie Greene, who pushed early voting last year in an attempt to help Kerry, said that's not necessarily the case.

Greene said some political leaders don't want to encourage more people to turn out because that makes it more difficult for them to influence the outcome. "They probably won't tell you this, but they want as few people as possible," she said.

Harden and Perlman said no one has complained about the decision against offering early voting this year.

Ultimately that will change, Klein said.

"As people become more and more accustomed to either voting on Election Day or a couple of weeks before Election Day, voters will become more demanding and say, `We want it for all of our elections.'"