Elections office requests $565,000 for print/mail and additional staff, citing Super Tuesday and three 2020 elections

Chris, the county clerk/auditor, told commissioners the elections office has received roughly $1,750,000 in grant‑funded upgrades and that none of those funds came from the county general fund. He said 2020 will be unusually resource‑intensive because the state legislature required county participation in Super Tuesday, creating three elections in the year and increased costs for printing, mailing and poll workers.

The largest single increase requested is $565,000 for printing and mailing costs for the 2020 election cycle; Chris described that expense as a statutory mandate from the state legislature and therefore non‑discretionary. He also requested funding for poll‑worker needs (background checks and time‑limited staff classifications due to the increased number of elections), a full‑time staffer focused on voter‑list maintenance to reduce returned mail and save postage, and service/maintenance fees (noted as roughly $13,000 for new equipment).

To improve logistics and security the office proposed hiring a professional moving company to deliver and pick up polling equipment in one day rather than rely on staff to transport machines across remote polling locations. Chris also asked for a front‑loaded training budget to certify election staff (noting the prior training budget had been as low as $200) and suggested using consumer tools (Qualtrics, Salesforce) for voter communication if county‑wide contracts can be negotiated.

Commissioners asked clarifying questions about vote‑by‑mail processes for Super Tuesday and welcomed the presentation; there were no formal votes during the session.