A volunteer committee convened by the Monroe County Election Board recommended converting polling operations to a vote-center model and presented fiscal estimates Tuesday as the County Council questioned budget implications.

Alana Stonebraker, chair of the Vote Center Committee, told the council the committee voted 7-0 to recommend converting “all 29 super precincts into vote centers.” She summarized how the model would let any registered voter cast a ballot at any county vote center, with ballots printed on demand and scanned at the center.

Stonebraker and election supervisor Kylie Farris gave councilors a line-by-line estimate of capital and operational costs. Stonebraker said the capital equipment price tag for printers, automatic ballot kits, label printers and scanners was about $600,000 and that the committee had modeled a $2.8 million cost over a four-year cycle. She told the council, “the total election cost increase over the cycle would be about 5%” under the most-expansive (29-center) scenario; she said a 20-center option was close to cost-neutral and a 22-center model would add roughly 1.6%.

Kylie Farris, Monroe County election supervisor, told councilors the Election Board weighed options and has been assessing a range of site counts; she said the board was leaning toward fewer locations than 29 but had not settled on a final plan. Farris also confirmed the county held a HAVA grant of roughly $35,000 toward printers and that additional grant opportunities remain available to offset costs.

Committee members described how vote centers change some recurring expenses while reducing others. Stonebraker said vote centers remove the need for preprinting tens of thousands of paper ballots — a line item she estimated previously at about $80,000 per cycle. The committee also recommended three additional, temporary early-voting locations for the final 10 days before election day to expand access in parts of the county; Stonebraker said adding three ten-day early sites would raise annual election costs by an estimated 30%.

Councilors asked detailed staffing and cost questions. Several members said labor costs — per-diem pay for judges and workers across many days of early voting — are the largest recurring expense and urged the Elections office to provide fully itemized staffing scenarios for the models.

Councilor Iverson said he supports converting to vote centers and asked whether the committee had factored staffing into the estimates; Stonebraker and Farris confirmed the capital figures were separate from day-to-day staffing and that figure 8 and 9 in the committee report contain staffing and operating assumptions. Farris said the Election Board would take public comment again on May 19 and could approve a plan that day.

The committee’s report and fiscal tables are posted on the Election Board website, and the board is accepting public comment on the draft plan through May 19. The Election Board must adopt a final plan and submit it to the council per state rules; council members said they would review financial details and consider whether to submit a concurrent supporting resolution.