Elections chief after 78% bigger budget

By George Bennett

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Saturday, April 30, 2005

Elections Supervisor Arthur Anderson wants a massive budget increase to add staff, open a Belle Glade office, upgrade technology and purchase 500 more voting machines to keep pace with population growth.

Anderson is to give Palm Beach County commissioners a formal budget request Monday for the year that begins Oct. 1. A draft put together by Anderson this week calls for $14.2 million ? up 78 percent from the current year's $8 million.

The scale of the increase is somewhat exaggerated, Anderson said, because it includes $1.5 million for a possible special election and $751,500 to prepare for runoff elections. Gov. Jeb Bush is expected to sign a bill eliminating runoffs.

Anderson is seeking $1.7 million to add 500 new touch-screen voting machines to the 4,400 the county now has. The machines are needed to keep pace with expanding voter rolls, Anderson said.

Anderson's budget does not include any money for printers to create a ballot paper trail, a key issue in his successful campaign last year to oust incumbent Theresa LePore.

If printers are approved by the state Division of Elections, Anderson said the money for them could come directly from county commissioners, who gave conceptual approval to printers in 2004.

Other budget highlights:

? Anderson wants $550,000 to add 15 new staff positions, which would increase the number of elections personnel from 39 to 54. He is proposing three new high-level administrative posts. One would focus on marketing and public relations. Another would be a chief deputy for operations, quality improvement and community outreach. A third would oversee facilities, inventory and bookkeeping.

? Two of the new staffers would be assigned to a new elections office in Belle Glade. Anderson also wants to add a staffer to existing satellite offices in Delray Beach and Palm Beach Gardens.

? Improvements to the elections office Internet site, including public access to candidate finance reports that are now available only on paper, would cost $572,700. Another $100,000 is budgeted for improving the automated phone system for voters and poll workers.

? Anderson wants to spend $400,000 to hire private attorneys rather than have the county attorney's office represent the elections office. The change would avert potential conflicts of interest, said Anderson, who said he did not know of any past situations where conflicts had arisen.

? The budget includes $200,000 to increase warehouse space to accommodate new voting machines and the processing of absentee ballots.