Cost Benefit Analysis: ECHO 65 Method

How to crunch numbers based on your county's reported election expenses.

This document presents a cost-benefit analysis comparing current hybrid computerized elections to historical hand-marked ballots, counted by hand, and cast in-precinct.

The data for this analysis can be obtained from county purchasing departments on your county’s website, or through open records requests.

These totals should be pulled from the most recent expense reports for your county’s largest countywide elections.

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CONDUCTING A COUNTYWIDE COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS USING OUR SIMPLE FORMULA:

(A): Total Cost of Your County’s Current Election Procedures (Minus cost of polling locations, current staffing expenses and training expenses. Eliminate these expenses for now, to be factored in later.)

(B): Expenses to Be Cut From Above (Use, programming and maintenance of computerized voting systems only. Leave any other service or expense if you are uncertain of it’s relation to the computerized voting system.)

(C): New Staffing Expenses for ECHO 65 (Counting teams of five people each, per polling place and at the county’s central elections office to county Early Ballots and Mail-Ins, staffed for one day only, election day)

(D): New Supply Expenses for ECHO 65 (Printing of ECHO 65 paper tally sheets, batch report forms, location return forms, paper poll books and hand-marked ballots.)

(E): Current Polling Location Expenses (Rent for Current Polling Locations only. See our report on The Case for Voting By Precinct to see our solution for adopting ECHO 65 while using a county’s existing polling locations, even if they no longer have one in every precinct.)

(F): Projected Cost of “Echo 65” Style Paper Elections

Final Formula:

(A - B) + (C + D + E) = F

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CONDUCTING A COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS FOR PRIMARY ELECTIONS

Primary Elections DO NOT COST YOUR COUNTY OR PARTY ANY MONEY TO CONDUCT. NEVER ACCEPT COST AS AN EXCUSE TO DISMISS YOUR DEMANDS FOR CLEAN PRIMARIES.

Per Texas Election Code CHAPTER 173. PRIMARY ELECTION FINANCING, the Secretary of State funds most of the cost of Primary Elections. Read more Here.

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