Irene Carlton, Jackson County clerk, recorder and election authority for the county, said the two Libertarian Party presidential candidates and two Libertarian Party U.S. Senate candidates who filed nominating petitions for the Illinois primaries are partly responsible for the election’s budget problems.

She said another problem with the cost is the National Voters Registration Act of 1981 (NVRA), a federal regulation requiring the county to foot all the bills for the election without any money from the federal government.

Carlton said each additional voting booth for the Libertarians for the 64 districts in Jackson County will cost more than $500, and the printing cost for the Libertarian ballots, which she said would double for this year’s election, must be paid for by the county because of the NVRA.

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The County Board pays for every election with no additional way of getting money for them, she said.

Carlton said it is time for the county to question why it must take on additional duties for other units of government and not get any reimbursement for it.

The election budget continues to escalate, she said. Turnouts are low for elections, and still we are required legally to pay for them.

However, Ron Michaelson, executive director of the State Board of Elections, said the Libertarian Party primary will be small. The board decided last year to allow the Libertarians to run in the presidential and U.S. Senate primaries, he said.

It does mean the cost of elections will be a little higher, but other than that, it will be business as usual, he said.

Besides what Michaelson called a glitch in the 1988 primary when the Solidarity Party was in the election, there has never been a third-party presidential or senatorial primary in Illinois’ history.

Even though the candidate only got 170 votes statewide, there was a third-party primary in 1988, Michaelson said.

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