Robert Fisher
Staff Reporter
BARRY’S BAY – Chief Administrative Officer Suzanne Klatt re-presented information from the April 1 council meeting where she outlined voting options for the 2026 municipal election. She recommended moving away from mail-in voting to online/telephone and in-person due to cost and timing issues if mail-in ballots are not received in a timely manner.
Cost for mail-in voting, assuming 3072 addresses and 5,889 eligible voters; based on 2022 numbers, at $2.88 per ballot is $16,700 for postage alone. Total cost for the 2022 election was approximately $36,000.
Cost for a vote tabulator and online/telephone voting for 2026 is estimated at $18,100. That cost does not include postage to mail out personal identification numbers (PIN) to voters which are a security measure to prevent people voting more than once. Postage, in that instance, is only one direction, adding approximately $8,500 to the total cost. Assuming no other costs, the total for the 2026 election would be roughly $23,600.
Coun. Shelley Maika offered that one of the reasons for eliminating mail-in voting is cost savings. “I’m not seeing where the cost savings is.” She re-iterated her position that elections happen on a single day, except for advance polls. Maika also feels technology infrastructure in the township office may not be up to the task.
Mayor David Shulist asked Coun. Joseph Cybulski to weigh in. Cybulski asked if the pin would be a straight pin or a safety pin and opined that voting worked find in the 1940s and 1950s so there was no reason to change, save for out of town cottagers who are eligible to vote.
Cybulski carried on wondering if changing election procedures means, “we are degrading ourselves to Nicaragua, where it was five years ago. Or maybe the elections that are held in Russia or maybe the elections that are held in Iran. You know, they’re all fudged. Is this opening a big door to more fudging?
“Right now, there’s quite a bit of fraud going on at elections. Believe it or not. Is that something we accept or something we ignore and overlook.
“We had a perfect system, years ago and we’re slowly destroying that system, unfortunately.”
Klatt asked, if Cybulski wants more opportunity for people to vote in-person, whether advance polls should be added.
“That’s debatable, as well,” he said.
Coun. Ernie Peplinskie suggested that changing voting methods would not likely result in more people voting. He also raised concerns about using technology.
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