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For S.L. County, 'democracy just got a lot more expensive'
New voting machines: Uncle Sam bought them, but the county must maintain and store them and hire and train a crew

Derek Jensen The Salt Lake Tribune 13 July 2005
Ensuring integrity in elections will be costly for Salt Lake County. To comply with the Help America Vote Act, the county, later this year, will upgrade from punch cards to 2,817 electronic Diebold machines. The federal government will foot that $10 million bill. But that money will not cover the cost to store the equipment - a climate-controlled, 25,000-square-foot warehouse is needed - or the personnel required to maintain the machines and train the poll workers. That bill will be in the millions, said Councilman Joe Hatch. "Democracy just got more expensive, that's for sure," said Dave Delquadro, the council's assistant fiscal analyst. On Tuesday, the council voted 8-0 to add six full-time employees, as requested by the clerk's office. They will help the county transition to the new voting modules - scheduled to arrive in December - in time to comply with the Jan. 1, 2006, federal goal. Elections Director Julio Garcia conceded time is not on the county's side, but he said Tuesday's personnel move should help. "This will help us build the core knowledge that will enable us to get it done right," he said. The extra employees will cost the county nearly $300,000 per year. But County Clerk Sherrie Swensen hinted that more help may be needed. If so, it would come in a formal request when the council huddles in November to discuss its 2006 budget. Meantime, county real estate officials are hunting for possible warehouse locations. An old Coca-Cola building in downtown Salt Lake City is on the block, but costs in excess of $6 million. And no matter where the voting machines are stored,the county must pay for the amenities to keep them tested, charged and cool. Delquadro worries about the "squishy" long-term needs and says the costs could snowball. To keep costs down, the council debated lobbying the Utah Legislature on an early voting measure that could reduce the need for more voting machines. Councilman Jim Bradley supported the move but was persuaded to wait by colleague Mark Crockett. "It would potentially change the dynamics of elections," Crockett warned. "I wanted more than 45 minutes to think about it." Short of early voting, Swensen says an additional 2,200 machines will be needed to handle the election in 2008. She notes registered voters in Salt Lake County jumped from 386,000 in 2000 to 500,000 this year. And absentee voters doubled over the same period. "We need some more expertise in this new environment," she told council members. Hatch agreed. "Of all the things we do," he said, "the one thing we can't do on the cheap is elections."