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Elections director warns recurring vote-anywhere licensing will raise FY27 costs
Summary
Ben Borgmeyer told the Budget & Public Employees Committee that St. Louis will hold four citywide elections in the next fiscal cycle and that licensing costs for the city’s “vote-anywhere” system — previously covered by ARPA — come off the books in FY27, producing a notable budget increase offset partly by savings on preprinted ballots.
Ben Borgmeyer, the Democratic director of elections for the St. Louis City Board of Election Commissioners, told the Budget & Public Employees Committee on May 13 that the office built its FY27 request around four citywide elections anticipated in the next cycle: the August primary, the November general, the midterms and municipal elections the following March and April. "Next year is a big year for us — we have four citywide elections," Borgmeyer said.
Borgmeyer said the department is in year three of a "vote-anywhere" system that eliminated the need for preprinted ballots and was initially funded with ARPA dollars. That ARPA support covered licensing for the first two years; FY27 is the first year the recurring licensing costs are expected to revert to the elections budget. "You can see a big jump in that line item on our budget," he said, adding that savings on election supplies partially offset the licensing increase.
Committee members praised the reforms and asked whether early voting has improved turnout. Borgmeyer said early voting has increased convenience but not yet produced higher overall turnout; it appears to shift when regular voters cast ballots and could reduce Election Day staffing footprints if usage grows. He told the committee the board maintains several early voting sites and will use the next election cycle as a data point to plan future resource allocation and site counts.
Borgmeyer said the department has reorganized some staff positions in recent years and that many vacancies in personnel tables reflect those reorganizations rather than layoffs. He closed by offering to provide additional data after the upcoming election cycle to help the committee evaluate long-term resource needs.
The committee did not take a vote on the elections budget during the session; Borgmeyer’s presentation will be part of the FY27 review process.
