Hancock County may add more voting machines
By EMILY SCOTT (escott@reviewonline.com)
POSTED: June 6, 2008
NEW CUMBERLAND — Hancock County Clerk Eleanor Straight told the Hancock County Commission at its meeting Thursday that she would like to have more voting machines in place by November’s general election.
The county experienced voting delays in May’s primary election, with some of the machines running out of the paper used to back up voters’ selections. Straight said at the time that the paper problems could have been attributed to a large ballot and voters changing their minds repeatedly, which uses up more paper.
Some of the county’s 28 precincts experienced long lines of voters, something Straight said may have been compounded by voters taking longer than they should have been allowed to. Straight said that 80 percent of the voters in May took longer than than their allotted five minutes. “Some of the people just really took their time,” Straight said.
Straight said she would like to add eight to 10 machines throughout the county, which would cost approximately $35,000. Straight was asked to have a specific request and costs available in time for the next commission meeting in two weeks.
The commission also approved a request from Hancock County Superintendent Suzan Smith to place an excess levy on the ballot of the Nov. 4 general election for the operating budget, salaries, and maintenance of the schools.
The levy, which is voted on every five years, is currently collected at a rate of 90 percent, but voters will decide in November whether to pass the levy at a rate of 100 percent.
Smith said the decision to raise the rate was “because of the drop of the tax base in our county and because of the increased cost of running the school system ... If we want to maintain the quality of schools and the quality of education we’ve all become accustomed to, it will be necessary to do this.”
Smith said that with the exception of the last ten or so years, the levy has always previously been collected at the 100 percent rate. Smith added the levy would be discussed further at the Board of Education’s meeting, which will be held Monday at 7 pm at the New Cumberland Municipal Building.
In other business, the Hancock County Commission:
Approved a request from the Hancock County Sheltered Workshop to place a renewal of the annual bond levy on the ballot in November as a separate issue in the amount of $250,000.
Donated $5,000 to the Hancock County Old-time Fair to assist with the cost of liability insurance and other expenses.
Approved a request from the Northern Panhandle Workforce Investment Board to appoint John Sorrenti as the Hancock County representative on the Executive Committee for the 2008 program year.
