Byelection estimated to cost $18,000

Town council received a report from clerk Glenn Treftlin on Monday night, giving a breakdown of statistics and costs related to the Jan. 14 byelection here.
Treftlin noted “the final costs of the election will not be known for sure until February when all invoices are received,” but the estimated final cost is $17,935.
The cost includes:
•Postage, freight, courier—$4,960;
•Office supplies—$250;
•Advertising, notices—$2,075;
•Part-time salaries—$2,235;
•Meeting expense—$31; and
•Contracted services (voting company DataFix)—$8,105.
This cost breakdown does not include Treftlin’s salary, but he noted he would have been paid regardless of whether or not there was a byelection underway.
Treftlin also noted there were a possible 5,726 electors for the Jan. 14 byelection, which saw 2,677 ballots turned in.
Of those, 58 had to be rejected for a variety of reasons, including:
•no declaration attached;
•suspicious signature;
•voter was not in system;
•declaration was unsigned;
•no secrecy envelope was included with declaration;
•ballot secrecy enveloped was open when received;
•signature did not match name on declaration;
•kits were spoiled; and
•the notation on the declaration returned in the yellow envelope was that of a voter that had moved.
There were 2,619 secrecy envelopes submitted for counting after the polls closed at 8 p.m. on Jan. 14.
Of those, 14 were rejected for various reasons.
The overall percentage of returned ballots that had to be rejected was 72 out of 2,677, or 2.7 percent.