Published: October 07, 2009 08:46 am      

Impact of voters act still unknown

The financial impact on Cumberland County remains unknown but election commission officials are hopeful they will learn more from the state in time to place a budget request locally next summer.

In a related business issue, it was learned that a Circuit Court judge has recused himself, along with all other judges in the district, from hearing a lawsuit.

And this month's meeting was not without its exchange of barbs between Republicans and Democrats serving on the panel.

It was a brief meeting Monday with most attention centered around how the Voter Confidence Act of 2007 will impact Cumberland County.

County Elections Administrator Sharon York told the commission that the new act was not anticipated to go into effect statewide until the November 2010 election, meaning in all likelihood, the May and August primaries will involve the use of voting machines that the county has used in the past.

Major cost anticipated will be just over $17,000 estimated for printing ballots. The new system will use paper ballots that will be scanned into a main computer.

Other items on the state list included DVD manuals, privacy and ADA booths, security containers, counting boards and other items. Of this amount, training of poll workers is expected to cost less than $5,000.

York stressed that the figure was a best guess estimate from the state and that all hinges on what form of the act the state legislature adopts and what will be passed on to the local level for funding.

In other business, Election Commission Chairman Calvin Smart read a letter from the attorney representing Smart, Denver Cole and Thomas Henderson in a lawsuit filed by former Election Administrator Suzanne Smith in which the group was informed that Circuit Court Judge Jerry Maddux had recused himself from hearing the case.

The letter went on to state that all judges in the 13th Judicial District have stepped aside and that the state will now have to assign a special judge to hear the lawsuit.

Democratic commission member Lisa Phillips presented a letter from a concerned Hamby Rd. citizen chastising the body for reappointing York as administrator last month.

Henderson received his copy of the letter, scratched an "X" over the copy and pushed it forward to the center of the table without taking time to read it.

Phillips also read a self-prepared letter in which she asked Cole, Henderson and Smart if they would resign their positions should they lose the lawsuit filed against them by Smith.

Smart responded by asking if this was a on-going thing to keep score. In an earlier meeting the three were asked to resign because of an admission that the state's open meetings law had been violated.

Last month Smart asked the two Democrats to resign their positions on the commission, which sparked Phillips' query this month.

Smart stated he doubted he would have a rebuttal next month.