Atlas Twp. – State officials had three reasons for drafting new election legislation that went into effect Jan. 1.
They wanted to get as many people as possible out to vote, to keep elections accurate by using trained coordinators to run them, and to save school districts money.
It looks as if the state is accomplishing two out of three goals, says Genesee County Elections Director Rob Coffman.
‘I’ve never looked at (election consolidation) as being cheaper,? said Coffman, who emphasized election costs are less than school officials believed earlier this year.
New legislation means school elections are run by the Genesee County Elections Office, along with the clerk of the township in which the majority of school district residents live.
Beginning May 3, Goodrich district residents will vote in nine different precincts instead of at the school, so the cost of paying election workers will increase, says Coffman.
Schools will pay the cost of printing ballots’at a slightly reduced rate because of the number of ballots being printed by one company’as well as the cost of mailing absentee ballots and payment of election night overtime accrued by the county clerk’s office.
One area in which schools can save is the legal costs associated with drafting and certifying ballot language, says Coffman.
‘It’s unnecessary for districts to pay an attorney,? he said. ‘With all due respect, we know what has to be published. We run a presidential election with a countywide turnout of about 64 percent. I think we can handle an election with a 10-percent turnout.?
The transition to running school elections under the consolidated election law is smoother for Genesee County than many counties in Michigan, said Coffman, partially because they’ve already put the optical scanning system into place.
Absentee ballot applications have been mailed out, with countywide response already so enthusiastic the elections office is wondering if absentee ballot votes will outpace those at the polls in May’s election. New voter registration cards have also been mailed to each voter.
The drafted legislation was originally more stringent for schools, which required school district elections to be held only in even-numbered years.
The final legislation permitted’but did not require’school elections every two years, providing for an extension of current school trustee terms until the next election.
Every district in the county except Atherton chose to hold annual elections in May. Opting for bi-annual elections would have cut election costs in half, plus allowed districts to share costs with Mott Community College in Flint, which holds elections every two years.
With Goodrich district residents voting at their regular polling precinct locations’including Atlas, Davison, Grand Blanc, Groveland, and Hadley townships’the biggest change will be for candidates, Coffman said.
‘Sometimes it’s the only opportunity to interface with the voters,? said school trustee Michael Tripp in a January school board meeting.
While the May 3 election may be confusing to some Goodrich voters expecting to cast ballots at the school, in the long run it may be easier, says Coffman. ‘People are telling us, ‘I like that I have just one place to go now.??
‘I’m more comfortable now than in most school elections. We normally get more irate calls on school election days than a presidential election day.?