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Monroe County Election Costs Up $600K From 2012

Monroe County officials say additional staffing is the primary reason next year's presidential election will cost $600,000 more than the previous election in 2012.

Board chairman William Ellis says the idea behind more staff comes from issues that arose in the last presidential election, including long lines and residents waiting hours to vote.

But Ellis says rather than increasing staff across the board, he hopes to find the polling places that saw the most issues and address those specifically.

He also says the new electronic pollbooks, which allow officials to review voter information, cost more than they're saving, and that the current budget isn't feasible for the long term.

"We're going to have to do some out-of-box thinking, because the county council has said this is just an unsustainable amount," Ellis says. "Unless we can get some guaranteed savings in the future this amount is going to be difficult for the county to swallow."

The election board will meet again next Tuesday to continue discussing the budget.

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