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County election official warns of rising vote-by-mail costs and scheduling changes after new law
Summary
The county's election official told the July 6 committee that permanent vote-by-mail notices will be mailed in August to about 17,000 voters and warned that a recently passed law banning meetings on election day will force scheduling changes; the committee approved a certified list of election judges for upcoming training and certification.
The county's elections official reported on July 6 that the office will mail permanent vote-by-mail notices beginning in early August and warned that new state law changes and rising postage costs could increase the elections budget.
The presenter (speaker S4, introduced in the meeting as "Morgan") said the office will start mailing permanent vote-by-mail notices around August 1 and estimated the number of notices at about 17,000. "It's gonna be about, probably close to 17,000 notices that are gonna be mailed out to voters," S4 said. She told the committee she had applied for a nonprofit postal permit that would allow much lower third-class postage rates for some mailings but cautioned that ballots themselves cannot be mailed at third-class rates.
S4 also briefed members on candidate filing and vacancy procedures after a withdrawal of candidacy received June 8: the Republican party has until August 26 to name a replacement and complete filing paperwork for the November ballot; a two-year unexpired term will also appear on the ballot for a vacancy referenced in the packet.
S4 said a recently passed law — read in the transcript as "public act 1 0 4 4 38" — prohibits meetings on election day and will affect committee scheduling in both November and April. She urged departments and committee chairs to plan alternate arrangements now that the restriction is in effect.
The committee also approved certified lists of Democrat and Republican election judges and a small set of additional judges added since last month; the approved lists will be submitted to the circuit court for certification after training and the post-bid period.
Next steps: election staff will proceed with the August mailing of permanent vote-by-mail notices, follow up on the postal permit to reduce mailing costs for non-ballot notices, and submit certified judge lists to the circuit court after required training.
