• David Tewes •
• Originally published July 29, 2008 at 11:59 p.m., updated July 29, 2008 at 11:59 p.m.

Plans for an expensive voting system to help ensure Victoria County voters cast only one ballot per election were rejected Tuesday.

“I have a difficult time spending that kind of money based on what we’re looking at in the budget,” County Judge Don Pozzi said.

The current system works and money would be better spent finding a new elections office more accessible to the voters, he said.

George Matthews, the elections administrator, met with the court during a budget work session to ask for $40,000 in software and computer equipment. There would also be an annual maintenance fee of $19,000.

The new system would do a more efficient job of tracking voters to ensure they don’t accidentally or intentionally vote more than once per election.

The current system for doing that was provided free to the county and has been in use since 2007. It mainly is used for voter registration, with the understanding it would eventually be expanded to track how many times people voted.

“It was fraught with problems all during 2007,” Matthews said. “Those problems continue in 2008.”

The expansion has also been delayed several times, he said. That has forced him to piecemeal two other systems to work with the existing one to track voters.

Matthews said he understands the package and continuing maintenance he is requesting are not cheap. “I don’t take this request lightly.”

But County Commissioner Kevin Janak said $4-a-gallon gasoline and the related cost increases are taking their toll on county government, individuals and businesses.

“All of our backs are against the wall,” he said. “This is a very, very tough decision we have to make.”

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