COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATIVE RESEARCH
OVERSIGHT DIVISION
FISCAL NOTE
L.R. No.:0515S.02I Bill No.:SB 98 Subject:County Officials; Elections; Secretary of State; Political Parties Type:Original Date:March 13, 2023Bill Summary:This proposal modifies provisions relating to elections.
FISCAL SUMMARY
ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON GENERAL REVENUE FUNDFUND AFFECTEDFY 2024FY 2025FY 2026
General Revenue*
Could exceed
($15,762,500)
Could exceed
($47,287,500)
Could exceed
($15,762,500)
Total Estimated Net
Effect on General
Revenue
Could exceed
($15,762,500)
Could exceed
($47,287,500)
Could exceed
($15,762,500)
* This bill requires that all future elections in Missouri use paper ballots only and that all ballots
be counted by hand. Such a requirement will necessitate increased numbers of election judges to
assist in the counting process.
ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON OTHER STATE FUNDSFUND AFFECTEDFY 2024FY 2025FY 2026Total Estimated Net
Effect on Other State
Funds $0$0$0
Numbers within parentheses: () indicate costs or losses. L.R. No. 0515S.02I
Bill No. SB 98
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ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON FEDERAL FUNDSFUND AFFECTEDFY 2024FY 2025FY 2026Total Estimated Net
Effect on All Federal
Funds $0$0$0
ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON FULL TIME EQUIVALENT (FTE)FUND AFFECTEDFY 2024FY 2025FY 2026Total Estimated Net
Effect on FTE 000
☒ Estimated Net Effect (expenditures or reduced revenues) expected to exceed $250,000 in any
of the three fiscal years after implementation of the act or at full implementation of the act.
☐ Estimated Net Effect (savings or increased revenues) expected to exceed $250,000 in any of
the three fiscal years after implementation of the act or at full implementation of the act.
ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON LOCAL FUNDSFUND AFFECTEDFY 2024FY 2025FY 2026Local Government(Unknown could be
substantial)
(Unknown could be
substantial)
(Unknown could be
substantial) L.R. No. 0515S.02I
Bill No. SB 98
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FISCAL ANALYSIS
ASSUMPTION
Officials from the Office of the Secretary of State (SOS) assume this bill requires that all future
elections in Missouri use paper ballots only and that all ballots be counted by hand. Such a
requirement will necessitate increased numbers of election judges to assist in the counting
process. This is a new responsibility that must be provided for under Article X, Section 21 of the
Missouri Constitution.
At the November 2020 general election, at least 3,025,962 ballots were cast statewide. Their
assumption is that it will requires two teams of judges to process ballots at a rate of one ballot
every five minutes (one team to handle and read the ballot, one team to record the votes). Based
on this estimation, it would take the equivalent of 63,050 eight-hour team shifts to count all
ballots. Since there are two judges in each team (one from each major party), this equates to
126,100 judge-days to be paid. Based on an average cost of $125 per election judge (previously
obtained by surveying a sample of local election authorities), this process would incur a cost of
up to $15,762,500 per election.
This cost would be fully incurred at least once in FY24 (April 2024), three times in FY25
(August 2024, November 2024, April 2025), and once in FY26 (April 2026). There would also
be additional partially-incurred costs to cover costs of elections outside of the normally-
scheduled primary, general, and municipal elections (such as special elections or municipal
elections in charter cities/counties). The exact scope of such potential expense is unknown.
FY24 - $15,762,500
FY25 - $47,287,500
FY26 - $15,762,500
Oversight does not have any information to the contrary. Therefore, Oversight will reflect the
estimated impact from the SOS in the fiscal note.
Officials from the SOS also assume many bills considered by the General Assembly include
provisions allowing or requiring agencies to submit rules and regulations to implement the act.
The SOS is provided with core funding to handle a certain amount of normal activity resulting
from each year’s legislative session. The fiscal impact for this fiscal note to the SOS for
Administrative Rules is less than $5,000. The SOS recognizes that this is a small amount
and does not expect that additional funding would be required to meet these costs.
However, the SOS also recognizes that many such bills may be passed by the General Assembly
in a given year and that collectively the costs may be in excess of what the office can sustain
with the core budget. Therefore, the SOS reserves the right to request funding for the cost of
supporting administrative rules requirements should the need arise based on a review of the
finally approved bills signed by the governor. L.R. No. 0515S.02I
Bill No. SB 98
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Oversight assumes the SOS could absorb the costs of printing and distributing regulations
related to this proposal. If multiple bills pass which require the printing and distribution of
regulations at substantial costs, the SOS could require additional resources.
Officials from the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules assume the proposal will have no
fiscal impact on their organization. Oversight does not have any information to the contrary.
Therefore, Oversight will reflect a zero impact in the fiscal note.
Officials from the Jackson County Board of Elections assume a negative fiscal impact of
$3,189,926 as follows:
115.081
Political committees have proven to be of no help when asked to provide judges for any election.
Committees focus solely on volunteers for their respective party candidates and campaign
offices.
115.157
Voter history cannot be produced in 48 hours after the election. Voter history is not uploaded
until all provisional ballots are investigated and either received or rejected, all military ballots
have been received (military and overseas have until the Friday after the election to return
ballots) and all polling locations have been balanced and all ballots accounted for. Voter history
is not uploaded until the entire election is officially certified.
115.226
The Jackson County Board of Election Commissioners recently submitted final payment on a
loan of $1.5 million for their election equipment. This bill removes the use of that equipment and
requires equipment not possessed by the Jackson County Election Board. The Jackson County
Election Board would need to purchase new ADA equipment that produces identical ballots that
they utilize in the polls. ($600,000).
This bill removes electronic voting devices except for the voters on a list of acceptable ADA
voters. Removing such devices removes federally mandated second chance voting should a voter
over vote in a race. ($1,500,000 for new equipment for 2
nd
chance voting)
115.443
This section requires new ballot boxes. Each box is $200.00 x 150 polling locations x 3 at each
polling location. ($90,000)
115.449
Hand counting of each individual ballot for any jurisdiction would be time consuming and
costly. Hand counting a large election could take up to a week. This would require new teams of
judges for each day. L.R. No. 0515S.02I
Bill No. SB 98
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Election Day judges report to the polling locations at 5:00 a.m. and do not leave until 7:30 p.m.
at the earliest. These judges would be in no condition to stay and hand count each individual
race. Multiple teams of judges would need to be scheduled over several days.
Total number of judges used in November 2020 was 1,600 with payroll (not including training)
of $203,985.15 x 5 days = $1,019,925.75 (Per Election).
Training for judges: $280,000.00 (Per Election).
115.527
This section would create legal challenges by many voters. This cost could be excessive if
senseless claims were made for multiple candidates/issues that would need to be addressed by
the courts. ($300,000 Per Election for representation of LEA)
Officials from the Platte County Board of Elections state:
Section 115.157.3
This section has new language, “not later than forty-eight hours following such election”. They
state the election isn’t finished, results aren’t official, and voter history is still being uploaded.
They are not legally allowed to certify the election until noon, Friday after the election. Many
election authorities take more time than that.
Section 115.158.10
The Electronic Registration Information Center is a voluntary collaboration between States,
which are represented by staff appointed by each States Secretary of State for the purpose of
verifying the accuracy of Missouri’s voter registration data. To target the Electronic Registration
Information Center for exclusion deprives Missouri of one of the broadest and best organized
interstate collaborations for that purpose.
Section 115.527
The new language in this section all but guarantees that there will be challenges in every election
held which will delay results and increase legal and staffing costs for Election Authorities. They
assume allowing any registered voter to charge that an election was compromised by
irregularities will bog down the process of certifying and will increase legal and staffing costs.
They estimate an additional $15,000 per election to resolve citizen challenges.
In addition, the Board states hand counting ballots is demonstrably less accurate than machine
counts. During required recounts of randomly selected precincts any time there has been a
difference between the hand recount and the machine count further investigation has shown the
original machine count to be correct and the discrepancy the result of human error. Ballots are
complex, one ballot style (not the longest ballot style) from the most recent election had 26 races
and questions on it. It is common for any of their poll sites to have 1,500 votes cast. That would
be 39,000 times ballots are handled assuming everything is correct the first time with no need to L.R. No. 0515S.02I
Bill No. SB 98
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recount any ballot. They estimate additional staffing needs for hand counting ballots to be
$20,000 per election.
Lastly, based on conversations with their ballot printer, requiring a water mark could increase the
cost for ballots by $10,000 per election
In response to similar legislation, HB 2633 from 2022, officials from Platte County Board of
Elections assumed the election authority would see a cost savings of $7,500 annually for
licensing and warranty of ballot scanners.
Officials from the St. Louis County Board of Elections assume in order to have unofficial
results within four hours of the close of polls and official results by the certification deadline,
this bill would require them to work around the clock for two weeks. The fiscal impact of
prohibiting electronic voting machines is as follows:
$9,375,000 to hire ballot counters to count Election Day ballots (@ $25/hr)
(250 election workers per polling place x 300 polling places = 75,000 workers per election)
$1,875,000 to train poll workers for one hour
(75,000 workers @ $25/hr)
$555,000 to hire workers to count absentee ballots
(22,200 hours @ $25/hr)
$194,400 to hire security/officers for Election Day
($36/hr x 18 hours = $648 x 300 polling places)
$300,000 to hire additional poll workers to manually check in voters
(4 workers @ $250/day x 300 polling places)
Total cost estimated per election: $12,299,400
This bill would also require the purchase of watermarked ballots which has been quoted at $0.70
per page. Depending on the turnout, this cost could range from $140,000-400,000 per election.
Officials from the Greene County Clerk’s Office assume cost increase range of $2,446,109.35
to $3,186,596.50.
Voter history shall be updated and made available for a fee not later than 48 hours following
such election: $14,278.33
Additional 4 ExpressVotes at all polling locations: (3,605 x 320): $1,153,600
List for those eligible to use an accessibility ballot marking device: $1,520 per election L.R. No. 0515S.02I
Bill No. SB 98
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Watermark and Missouri State seal on ballot: No cost increase or savings
Absentee ballots must be postmarked from the same county in which the office is located: $1,000
per election.
Retention would be 5 years for ballots: 5 10’x15’ storage units for 5 years: $12,060 annually
Hand tallying ballots: The range of costs based off of these hand-tallying would be $95,772.69 to
$513,065.34 for a Presidential Election.
If these Sections are to institute that ONLY two election judges are to be the designated counters
and then, the other two election judges would be the recording judges at each polling location,
they have estimated that Greene County would need one polling location per 400 active voters.
This would take the Greene County polling location number from 76 assigned locations to 576
(575.80) polling locations.
Average Polling Location Cost per Location: $1,451.84 (416.29 for supplies, 100 for rent, 10.55
for delivery, and 925 for election judge stipends).
Total Polling Location Estimated Cost: $836,259.84
The cost estimate would be in total for the range of $95,772.69 to $836,259.84 in addition to all
of the other election costs required by statute and standard practices.
In response to similar legislation, HB 2633 from 2022, officials from the Kansas City Board of
Elections assumed if this legislation becomes law, the cost to conduct elections in the Kansas
City portion of Jackson County will increase substantially. They anticipate ballot costs to
increase by $50,000 per election and staff overtime and temporary expense to increase by
$100,000 per election to hand count these ballots. Error rates due to human error would be high
and it would push back the date of certifying an election at least two weeks.
In response to similar legislation, HB 2633 from 2022, officials from the St. Charles County
Election Authority assumed the requirements of this proposal will cost between $52,500 and
$945,000 per election and could be higher.
Assumptions: Election judge/temp labor
Find, read and record one race per ballot will take 30 seconds
Each ballot will take two people so all times is doubled for cost
Number of races change per election
Assume average of 5 races per ballot for April elections
Assume average of 20 races per ballot for Aug & Nov elections
$15 per hour for labor to count ballots
Voter turnout 45,000 to 210,000 depending on election L.R. No. 0515S.02I
Bill No. SB 98
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Each ballot issue will take 1 man minute
April election will take 5 minutes per ballot
Aug & Nov election will take 20 minutes per ballot
All cost are new and additional to existing practices
There are no cost savings as the machine to count ballots are paid for in full
Math: 20 Minutes x $15/hr = $4.50 per ballot in staff cost
5 Minutes x $15/hr = $ 1.25 per ballot in staff cost
$1.25 x 42,000 ballots = $52,500
$4.50 x 210,000 = $945,000
Oversight notes that the provisions of this bill would cause the cost to conduct elections to
increase substantially for local election authorities (LEA). As stated above by the LEAs, there
would be an increase in ballot cost, staff overtime, and training. Each LEA will have varying
needs for their specific jurisdiction. Therefore, Oversight will reflect an unknown cost for the
local election authorities.
FISCAL IMPACT – State GovernmentFY 2024
(10 Mo.)
FY 2025FY 2026GENERAL REVENUECost – SOS
Election Judges
Could exceed
($15,762,500)
Could exceed
($47,287,500)
Could exceed
($15,762,500)
ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON
GENERAL REVENUE FUND
Could exceed
($15,762,500)
Could exceed
($47,287,500)
Could exceed
($15,762,500) L.R. No. 0515S.02I
Bill No. SB 98
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FISCAL IMPACT – Local GovernmentFY 2024
(10 Mo.)
FY 2025FY 2026LOCAL POLITICAL
SUBDIVISIONS
Savings – LEAs
licensing and warranty of ballot
scanners
UnknownUnknownUnknownCost – LEAs
Ballot cost, overtime, training, and
equipment
(Unknown
could be
substantial)
(Unknown
could be
substantial)
(Unknown
could be
substantial)
ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON
LOCAL POLITICAL
SUBDIVISIONS
(Unknown
could be
substantial)
(Unknown
could be
substantial)
(Unknown
could be
substantial)
FISCAL IMPACT – Small Business
No direct fiscal impact to small businesses would be expected as a result of this proposal.
FISCAL DESCRIPTION
This act modifies various provisions relating to elections.
(Section 28.900)
The Secretary of State (SOS), including any deputy or employee thereof, is prohibited from
entering into any contract with a foreign entity on behalf of the office of the Secretary of State or
the state of Missouri that would aid in administering any provision relating to elections or ballot
measures.
(Section 115.081)
Under current law, each election authority is responsible for appointing election judges from lists
prepared by the committees of the major political party committees. This act modifies that
process by requiring the committees of the major political parties to appoint election judges not
later than 90 days prior to each election. If the committees do not appoint judges within such
time, then the election authorities would appoint election judges who meet the criteria specified
in current law.
(Section 115.157) L.R. No. 0515S.02I
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The act requires electronic media or a printout showing voter participation information in any
specific election to be made available for a fee by election authorities not later than 48 hours
following any election.
(Section 115.158)
The act prohibits the Secretary of State (SOS) from entering into any agreement with any
organization that would involve the sharing of voter registration data in the possession of the
SOS, including, but not limited to, the Electronic Registration Information Center, Inc. (ERIC).
Any agreement previously entered into may continue for the duration of the agreement but shall
not be renewed.
The act additionally specifically allows the SOS to coordinate or collaborate with another state
for the purpose of verifying voter registration data in the possession of the SOS, provided that it
is done by the office of the SOS.
(Section 115.158)
The act prohibits the SOS from acquiring any information from any credit agency that contains
the address or other identifying information of any registered voter.
(Various Sections)
Current law permits and regulates the usage of automatic tabulating equipment, electronic voting
machines, and voting machines in elections. This act repeals those provisions and, except as
provided below, requires all ballots to be cast in paper form and hand-counted, as stipulated in
law.
The act allows for the use of voting machines designed for accessibility by individuals with
disabilities. Such machines shall comply with federal Help America Vote Act. Additionally, such
machines shall print out a paper ballot showing distinguishing marks next to the voter's choices.
The paper ballot printed out shall be identical to the paper ballot used in all other instances at the
election.
The SOS shall maintain a database containing the names of all individuals who are eligible to use
a voting machine designed for accessibility. The database shall be updated as changes are made
and every 30 days election authorities shall be given an updated list of registered voters in the
jurisdiction of the election authority who are eligible to use such machines.
(Section 115.237)
The act requires all ballots to contain a watermark of the seal of the state of Missouri in the top
right-hand corner. The ballots must also be produced in the United States of America. The SOS
may not have any financial relationship with the entity producing the ballots, whether in his or
her capacity as Secretary of State or in an individual capacity.
(Section 115.287) L.R. No. 0515S.02I
Bill No. SB 98
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The act requires all absentee ballots that are mailed to voters by first class, registered, or certified
mail to be postmarked from the same county in which the office of the election authority is
located.
(Sections 115.299 and 115.451)
Under current law, ballots may not be counted until the polls are closed unless specifically
authorized by the election authority. This act allows ballots to be counted as they are dropped in
the ballot box, provided that no results shall be reported from any specific polling place until all
votes have been counted at such polling place. Additionally, absentee ballots may be counted
prior to Election Day at a time and place designated by the election authority. No results shall be
reported as to the absentee ballot totals until all votes have been counted in the election
authority's jurisdiction.
(Section 115.493)
Under current law, each election authority is required to keep all voted ballots, processed ballot
materials in electronic form and write-in forms, and all applications, statements, certificates,
affidavits and computer programs relating to each election for 22 months after the date of each
election. This act requires election authorities to keep such information for 5 years after the date
of each election.
(Sections 115.527 and 115.553)
Under current law, any candidate for nomination for or election to any office may challenge the
correctness of the returns for the office, charging that irregularities occurred in the election by
filing an election contest in court. This act allows any registered voter to file such an election
contest, provided the registered voter was eligible to vote in the election in question.
This legislation is not federally mandated, would not duplicate any other program and would not
require additional capital improvements or rental space. L.R. No. 0515S.02I
Bill No. SB 98
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SOURCES OF INFORMATION
Office of the Secretary of State
Joint Committee on Administrative Rules
Jackson County Board of Elections
Platte County Board of Elections
St. Louis County Board of Elections
St. Charles County Board of Elections
Kansas City Board of Elections
Greene County Clerk’s Office
Julie MorffRoss StropeDirectorAssistant DirectorMarch 13, 2023March 13, 2023