February 15, 2007 - Primary move would cost Solano estimated $1.1 million

February 15, 2007 Thursday

SECTION: LOCAL
LENGTH: 624 words
HEADLINE: Primary move would cost Solano estimated $1.1 million
BYLINE: By Matthias Gafni, Times-Herald staff writer

BODY:
The proposed move of California's presidential primary to February would cost Solano County an added $1.1 million and one Vallejo politician is not pleased.

Although state legislators have promised to reimburse all of the associated costs, Solano's Registrar of Voters Ira Rosenthal said his office plans on lobbying state groups and officials to ensure they pick up the tab.

"Because of the attention this legislation is attracting and the importance this has for our Legislature, I think they will pay," Rosenthal said.

County supervisor Barbara Kondylis, of Vallejo, said she doesn't trust the state.

"They promise a lot, but don't always come through," Kondylis said.

"We'll be at the state legislators' throats if they don't reimburse us," she said.

Senate Bill 113, which is designed to give California more influence in selecting presidential candidates, would split off the presidential primary from the June 3, 2008 election date. However, as the presidential primary would be the only portion moved, the remaining contests on the ballot would remain on the June ballot.

California voters may get more face time from 2008 presidential candidates, but Solano election workers will be faced with the daunting task of conducting four elections in one year's time.

"There aren't going to be too many people taking vacation," Rosenthal said.

The additional costs come with an increase in temporary staff, printing additional ballots (poll, sample and absentee), and paying for more poll workers and equipment moves, Rosenthal said.

In addition, the election's office uses many retired temporary workers, who can only work a certain amount of hours due to pension and Social Security requirements. If their hours begin to exceed regulations, Rosenthal said they may need to hire new workers with less experience and training.

While State Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, has said the cost of moving up the primary will be worth it, supervisor Kondylis says California is now playing expensive politics.

"Obviously, California would then have a huge say on who became president," Kondylis said. "But I get sick of all the political games."

Kondylis says the country needs a constitutional amendment placing presidential primaries on the same day in every state.

"That's the only way we'll see an end to this musical chair thing," she said. "It's all a political ploy."

In Contra Costa County, county clerk Stephen Weir told his board of supervisors Tuesday that he's asking for full reimbursement if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signs the bill moving the primary election to Feb. 5, 2008.

Election workers in that county during a 15-month period would get no vacation time and mandatory overtime, he said.

The move is projected to cost Contra Costa $3.5 million. For counties statewide, moving the presidential primary would cost a projected $90 million.

"Our request is that it be treated like a special election," Weir said.

Reimbursement for past special elections, however, has been mixed. The county was not reimbursed for the Oct. 7, 2003 so-called recall election, but it was reimbursed $1.5 million for the Nov. 5, 2005 special election. According to Weir, the $1.5 million did not cover the entire cost of the election.

"We never get 100 percent," he said.

If the presidential primary is moved to early February, California would be the fifth in the nation to cast their votes, behind only the Iowa caucuses, the Nevada Democratic party caucuses, the New Hampshire primary and the South Carolina primary.

The risk, however, is that other states will also move their presidential primary election dates, which would defeat the purpose.

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