How to Run a Better Election: Local election officials offer five points to consider.

• Author: Potyondy, Patrick
• Position: ELECTIONS

If you want to know how to catch fish, you ask the old-timer who runs the bait shop right down the road from the lake. And if you want to know how to run a good election, you ask a local election administrator.

In other words, you go to the source.

We've gone to The Canvass, NCSL's monthly elections newsletter, which has published interviews with more than 50 local election officials in the last six years. We've pulled out some of their best thoughts on our current voting system, and what it will take to make our elections run as efficiently, accurately and securely as possible. We present them here, in the officials' own words, along with policy options.

1. Replace Aging Voting Equipment.

   Voting equipment across much of the country is wearing out as states and counties search for funding to replace outdated voting machines.

   "One of our biggest challenges with running elections is money."--Constabile

   "Money matters. Every day I speak to one county election commissioner or another, and in every conversation they bring up the fact they don't have enough money. And, by all accounts, elections have gotten very expensive."--Burns

   "Small counties have limited funds. We never know what the costs are going to be."--Oakley

   "Expectations are higher each election that we have preliminary results soon after the polls close, because almost everyone has a smartphone or tablet connected to the internet, but faster results require better equipment. It could be a half a million dollars just for our county--how do you pay for that? What we have works for now, but it's something we are thinking about and planning for."

   --Dolson

   "We looked at other jurisdictions and states to see what we could learn about getting the job done at the lowest cost to the taxpayer."--Rawlings

   Policy options:

   * Raise funds through fees on purchases of voter registration lists and Freedom of Information Act requests, or fines on election misconduct.

   * Advocate for a direct appropriation from your state budget.

   * Consolidate election dates to save money.

   * Establish more centralized centers for early voting.

   * Switch to all-mail elections.

2. Plan for a Full-Time Job.

   Elections don't happen only on Election Day. They require constant thought, planning and work.

   "Elections are a year-round activity--intergovernmental agreements for public safety, equipment, facilities for early voting and training--the list goes on."--McLaughlin

   "Our secretary of state called town clerks 'stewards of...