February 20, 2008 10:20 PM UTC

Will Ken Gordon's Paper Ballot Bill stick the counties with the tab?

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• by: Danny the Red (hair)

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

Gordon’s bill stipulates that county clerks will buy supplies and pay for printing the ballots. For all other expenses associated with the elections, the Department of State “may reimburse a county for conducting primary and general elections in 2008” with funds appropriated by the Legislature or from HAVA.

The county clerk, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the bill has not yet been introduced, said some aspects of the bill’s funding language were troubling – particularly the portion stating the Department of State “may reimburse a county for conducting primary and general elections in 2008.” The clerk was disturbed that it does not expressly guarantee that General Fund money would pay all county expenses. Further, there’s a significant change in the most recent draft on the bill, finalized Monday, as compared to a previous draft from Feb. 13. The previous version appropriated $4 million in General Fund money to pay for election costs. The new draft leaves that portion of the bill blank.

David Archer, a legislative analyst for the Senate majority office who helped write the bill, would not comment on the change.

The county clerk who was interviewed, however, said that about $10 million would actually be needed for the statewide switch to paper-ballot voting. The clerk speculated, though, that the $4 million appropriated in the previous draft of the bill would go down rather than up when the bill is finalized

“I would say it’s going the other way, not more towards more money,” the clerk said.

http://coloradostatesman.com/

This is a big expense to shove down the counties throat on short notice.