Board of Elections Prepares for Next Fiscal Year

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – Following the Fall November election, the
Muskingum County Board of Elections is preparing for the 2020 fiscal
year—and the presidential election that awaits. The Board of
Elections presented it’s annual budget to the Muskingum County
Board of Commissioners this morning. Timothy Thompson, Board of
Elections Director, says an increased budget is anticipated as
additional staffing and equipment will be required.

“We expect a
greater voter turnout and so we’re looking at hiring other people
to be able to help us get things accomplished; and we want to make
sure we have enough ballots to cover all of the voters that would
show up. And so, we’re anticipating a—generally, a little bit
larger budget this coming cycle to cover that.”

In addition to a new
budget, a recent new program introduced at the Board of Elections
involves training area high school students to become poll workers.

“We’ve reached
out to the high schools in the area and we’re trying to reach into
all the schools but we’ve had students from most of the high
schools be able to participate in last Fall’s election. And, many
of those are looking forward to working in the Spring.”

Voter turnout for
the Fall election in Muskingum County was approximately 29 percent.