Vote centers notice to be mailed

The county is looking to spend part of an unexpected windfall of tax money to notify voters of a change in how they cast their ballots.

This year, the county will switch to vote centers, meaning voters will cast their ballots at any of 19 sites across the county. The switch replaces the traditional method of voters going to a specific polling site near their homes.

Officials had discussed sending a mailing out to all voters but didn’t because of the cost.

A rough estimate is that postcards, which would explain the change and tell voters where the new voting sites will be, would cost 39 cents each. The county has more than 90,000 registered voters.

But recently officials learned the county would be getting more than $1 million after state officials made a mistake in distributing income taxes last year and this year.

Now, county council members have given officials the OK to look at spending some of that money to send a postcard to voters about the change to vote centers.

Council members asked if the county could save some money by sending the postcard only to households, rather than every voter.

Election officials have discussed hiring a company to print and mail the postcards.