Cook County Hopes to Save $1M by Cutting Hundreds of Voter Precincts

Suburban Cook County will have 14 percent fewer voter precincts in 2012 — a reduction that is expected to save an estimated $1 million, according to Cook County Clerk David Orr.

The Cook County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to eliminate 264 of the county's 1,673 precincts. The measure is part of Orr's efforts to streamline elections, he said in a press release.

"This is an enormous dividend from our investment in policies that make voting easier," he said. "Early voting and absentee by mail have taken the pressure off in-precinct voting."

Due to periodic reductions, suburban Cook County will have 33 percent fewer precincts in 2012 than it did a decade ago. According to Orr, 829 precincts have been eliminated since 2002. The last reduction occurred in 2009, when 353 precincts were eliminated.

Only two of 30 suburban townships — and Riverside — will remain unchanged.

The Clerk's Election Department redrew precinct boundaries in conjunction with the legislative redistricting that occurred earlier this year. According to the release, an analysis of the new precincts revealed many that were "underutilized by voters or that could be easily combined with other precincts."

Orr's 2012 election budget request is $24.6 million, about $3 million less than was requested for the 2008 presidential election.

Reducing and combining precincts will decrease costs associated with election judges, equipment programming, equipment delivery and polling place rental fees. The reduction is anticipated to save $500,000 per election in even-numbered years, according to the release.

"By merging precincts with others in the same polling location or combining precincts where there are too few voters, we will save $1 million next year with little to no impact on voters," Orr said.

New voter identification cards will be issued to all registered voters prior to the March 20 presidential primary election. The cards will include the voter's precinct and polling place information, the closest early voting location and the new 2012 voting district.

Beginning in December, new precinct information will be available to registered voters on the Cook County Clerk's website under the Your Voter Information section.

Maps of the precinct changes are currently available online.