Mail-in election was spendy for Anchorage taxpayers

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Mail-in elections are expensive. How expensive? A brief look at recent Anchorage mayoral election turnouts and how much they cost the taxpayers:

2012 – 71,099 cards cast, election cost taxpayers $400,000
2015  – 70,650 cards cast, election cost taxpayers $451,000
2018 –  79,295 cards cast, election cost taxpayers $1,040,300

Additional ballots cast in 2018 over ballots cast in 2015: 8,645
Additional cost to taxpayers: $589,300

Cost to taxpayers for votes exceeding the 70,650 cast in the 2015 election: $68 dollars per vote.

Bottom line: A massive increase in cost and a small increase in turnout coupled with a heightened risk of fraud? The municipality could have hired four more police officers instead.

2 COMMENTS

  1. Start-up costs. If we had to buy brand new election equipment for poll-based voting, how much would that have cost? Vote by mail saves us money over time, not immediately.

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