Saving a few bucks on balloting

Ballots aren’t cheap — and I’m not talking about buy votes. Most election boards pre-order their ballots from print shops, and they have to print more than they expect to need. Add in the cost of optical scanners, and you’ll see why so many counties like the ideas of electronic balloting.

But Florida knows the need for a paper trail first hand, and county election boards are looking for ways to simplify the paper balloting process.  Around 27 counties will be making use of a technology straight out of publishing for early voting, if not the whole primary process: print on demand. Precinct officials will be able to print out ballots as needed, when voters walk up and request them. The ballots will then go through an optical scanner, meeting Florida’s requirements for a paper trail.

POD technology may have a bit of a bad rap among publishers, but it looks perfect for voting. Counties using it no longer need to overstock ballots, and don’t have to worry about ballot storage in the weeks leading up to an election.  Pinellas County has already released numbers that say, if the printing system had been in place for the November 2006 elections, the county would have saved $45,000 and 600 staff hours. And that wasn’t a presidential election, either. There will be much higher turnouts this November.

If POD ballots are so great, though, why hasn’t every state and county adopted the things? The answer boils down to two words: printer jams. Think of all the horrible things that your printer has done to you over the years.