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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A month after the general election, officials are tallying the costs of taking the voting process high-tech.
Touch-screen voting isn't cheap.
Michale Cragun is elections director for the Lieutenant Governor's office. He says state officials knew it would be costly, but just how much it ended up costing was a surprise.
Cragun is scheduled to meet this week with county clerks and city recorders to discuss their options. City leaders have heard rumors they may have to triple their election budget if they go with the touch-screen machines.
Voters in the state's smaller communities could be reverting to the paper ballot. But that isn't an option in the bigger cities, so elections officials are searching for the most cost-effective answer.
Counties primarily pay election costs. The state issued machines for November, but that still left the counties with some big-time bills.
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Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
