Delaware elections tab totals $3 million

• Election costs in 2014 surpassed $1.4 million in Delaware.
• Primary elections in New Castle County can require as many as 2,000 employees.
• Open presidential elections years, like 2008 and 2016, are generally the most expensive.

Whether large or small, contentious or quiet, Delaware taxpayers are on the hook for millions each time votes need to be cast across the state.

Among other points on the balance sheet, election employees have to be paid, machines need to be shipped and polling stations booked, all at a cost that falls around the $3 million mark for statewide elections. Election officials say running the whole show from the state level helps streamline the process, but it's never easy or cheap.

This year had a presidential primary in April, a statewide primary on Sept. 13 and the general election in November, plus other local contests.

New Castle County is home to the state's largest voter segment and the highest costs for statewide elections, representing about half the state's total expenditures.

Election costs in 2014 surpassed $1.4 million, a trend that stretches back to 2002 when costs were just below $1.1 million. Running the 2008 elections in New Castle was the most expensive year since 1994, at $1.52 million.

This year, the state estimates the three county offices and the department of elections will spend a combined $3 million on elections. Kent is budgeted for a $666,000 total, Sussex for $537,500, New Castle for $1.6 million and the department of the Commissioner of Elections will spend an additional $152,400 to fill in the gaps and handle affairs that cross county lines.

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"It can be less. Some years it's more. It depends on what's happening. The number of candidates has nothing to do with it. We plan every election as if we're going to have a decent turnout," said Howard Sholl Jr., deputy county director for the department of elections in New Castle County. "You can't say, 'This is an off year so we're not going to put as many machines or poll workers in a polling place.' You can't do that. That's when you end up with a disaster."

Primary elections in New Castle County can require as many as 2,000 employees, and at least an additional 500 are needed for general elections, Sholl said. Personnel represent the largest chunk of cash necessary to get the votes cast and counted, he said.

Personnel for New Castle County in 2014 had a price tag of $137,500. Those costs covered the pay of both seasonal and salaried workers and overtime expenses, but also represented the lowest price tag for workers in the county since at least 1994.

Open presidential elections years, like 2008 and 2016, are generally the most expensive.

The state estimates New Castle County personnel costs for this year's elections will fall around $350,000, and in 2008 they were $338,000. Kent this year will spend $158,000 on personnel, and Sussex is expected to spend $117,400.

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Each of those employees requires a daylong training session, with around 30 sessions held before the primaries and around 60 before each general election, said State Election Commissioner Elaine Manlove. It cost more when the state had to rent facilities for hosting the training — nearly $56,000 in 2008 for New Castle County alone — but use of the New Castle County Warehouse as a consolidated headquarters significantly reduced that tab.

The state's machines are stored away in warehouses for most of the year and transporting them to various polling locations is a hefty cost. Shipping those machines this year will cost $77,000 in New Castle County alone.

Sussex doesn't contract out that work, so the cost of moving machines fits into the budget only through items like fuel and hours, and the budget provided by the department of election for Kent merges the cost with "professional services," expected this year to be hit $46,200.

"Most of our costs are people, the transport of machines. We have advertising, of course, and that number changes," Sholl said.

Costs are tracked across the board, Sholl said, though maybe not as efficiently as Department of Elections heads would prefer. He said some common expenditures lack the coding in the state's finance system to zero in on certain aspects of the process, which might give organizers a clearer picture on where savings could be found. It's not an uncommon problem, but requires the department lump some costs together in the same spreadsheet fields.

"Sometimes we lump things together and we will break it out so I have an actual cost of poll workers, an actual cost of polling places. If we had a more robust system it would be easier to track it," Sholl said. "We don't have a voting machine transport code, that gets lumped in with professional services. I have someone who gives me that number so we know what we actually paid for that."

Contact Adam Duvernay at (302) 319-1855 or aduvernay@delawareonline.com.

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What elections will cost this year

Kent County: $666,000 

Sussex County: $537,500

New Castle County: $1.6 million

State Commissioner of Elections: $152,400