Democratic Runoff At Trenton Precinct Only And The Cost Of Elections

By LYDIA BERGLAR
News Editor

The Democratic runoff for the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) primary will be held on July 15, with early voting July 7-11 from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and election day voting from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. The race is between Peter Hubbard and Keisha Sean Waites for the PSC District 3 seat. To vote in this runoff, you must have selected a Democratic ballot or not have voted at all in the June 17 election.

One unusual part of this election is that instead of all seven precincts being open on election day, only the Trenton precinct will be open. (As usual, early voting is only being held at the Trenton precinct.) This is because state law allows that when less than one percent of the registered voters (both active and inactive) is represented by a specific party in an election, that party’s runoff is allowed to be held at just the main precinct.

This allows a county to save money for low turnout elections where some precincts could have very few or even zero people show up to vote. For example, Lowanna Vaughan (elections supervisor at the Dade County Board of Elections) reported that only four people voted at the New Home precinct on June 17. That precinct had four poll workers who were paid $160 each for the day, meaning each vote cost at least $160—that’s not including the other expenses involved in running the precinct.

Vaughan noted that this rule applies to both parties; it just happens to affect the Democratic party this time. The Republican turnout was also low in the PSC primary, so the rule would also impact that party if there were a Republican runoff.

As of the June 17 election, Dade County has 15,048 registered voters, 12,098 of whom are active. This means that 151 Democrats (or Republicans, had the rule been applicable) would have needed to vote in the primary to have all precincts open for the runoff, but only 121 Democratic and 144 Republican ballots were cast.

However, students at Southeast Lineman Training Center (SLTC) who register to vote in Dade affect these numbers. The elections office does not know the number of SLTC students who are registered to vote, but Vaughan agrees that they inflate our registered voter numbers.

Most of these students who register to vote in Dade do so through the Georgia Department of Driver Services when getting their CDL (commercial driver’s license). Not every SLTC class is the same size, and not every student in each class gets a CDL, but some of those who do also register to vote in Dade while filling out the license form.

The Sentinel confirmed with DDS that registering to vote is not the default option; each person must read the statement and check the box on the form.

However, it appears that some SLTC students may not fully realize the implications of checking that box: Vaughan reported that during the November 2024 presidential election, several SLTC graduates who had moved back home called the elections office because they couldn’t vote at home due to being registered in Dade. They are also almost certainly unaware of their impact on Dade’s voter rolls.

She said, “People have suggested going to the school and trying to educate the students about this, but we have to be real careful because we don’t want them to think that we’re trying to prevent them from registering to vote and voting here—that’s not the case. It’s just that, if they’re not here for very long, requesting an absentee ballot from their home state is another option.”

SLTC students and graduates, just like all other voters, become inactive after not voting in two general elections. They stay inactive for two years before coming off Dade’s voter rolls.

If, by chance, 2,948 of the registered voters are SLTC students who have not/do not intend to vote in Dade, then this current application of the one percent rule could be seen as improper.

The Sentinel contacted the school for an estimate of how many students get their CDL in Dade each year, but as of press time, we haven’t heard back.

This particular runoff situation ties into the interesting topic of how much it costs to host an election. The county uses an estimate of $20,000 per election when preparing the budget, but we never know for sure how many elections will be held because of the potential for runoffs and special elections. (Someone dying while in office or stepping down is an example of when a special election would be needed).

Each year, the elections office is sent a calendar with the general and primary election dates, and while the office knew the PSC election was happening, they didn’t realize at first that it was a state-wide election (because our districts aren’t on the ballot). This was an additional cost in FY25 that was not initially anticipated.

Vaughan further said, “It’s such a guessing game for us, because we don’t know who’s going to show up for each election. You’re guessing at how many poll workers you’re going to need and how many ballots you need to send to each precinct.”

The state requires three poll workers to be on the floor of each precinct at a time, but beyond that, Vaughan sets the number of workers by expected voter turnout. During the 2024 presidential election, she had eight workers at the Trenton precinct alone.

During the June 17 PSC primary, poll worker pay totaled about $4,500, reported Vaughan. (This means that each of the 265 votes cost $17 in poll worker pay alone.) For the runoff, the office is cutting down from 28 workers to just four.

By only having the Trenton precinct open, the elections office is also saving the money it takes to rent a truck and hire workers to move the equipment to and from each precinct. Also, some of the precincts charge rent.

If we didn’t have weeks of early voting, we would save money on poll worker pay, but that’s about it. The state sets the early voting requirements, so the county cannot decide how much early voting is appropriate or worth paying for. Even for city elections, the elections office must have early voting. General and primary elections must have three weeks of advanced voting, and runoffs must have at least one week.

As for cutting down on precincts, the elections office has expressed a desire to combine the New Home and Davis precincts. At the June 20 budget hearing, Don Townsend (county executive) said that the county would have to go through the state to adjust precincts, but it could possibly be done.

The Sentinel asked Vaughan if the elections office ever hears from citizens who would prefer to save taxpayer money instead of having as many precincts or as many days of early voting. She has not heard any citizens express this desire.

If you plan to vote on July 15, remember to go to the Trenton precinct in the Dade County Administrative Building.