Free elections aren’t free.

By the time all poll workers are trained and supplies necessaryto run the Nov. 4 general election are purchased, Lincoln Countywill have expended between $15,000 to $20,000 for a single 12-hourday of voting, said Circuit Clerk Terry Lynn Watkins.

“Nothing’s free,” she said. “If you’re a taxpayer, you’rehelping to pay for this election, so go out and vote.”

The spending is well under way. For the last few weeks, thecounty has been training box managers and precinct bailiffs, andclerical workers will be trained beginning Oct. 30.

For one day of service to the democratic process, managers willbe paid $100, while bailiffs and clerical workers will be paid $80.Each of the county’s 32 precincts will have one manager, onebailiff and at least four clerical workers, Watkins said.

So, with 64 managers and bailiffs and at least 128 clericalworkers, the county will be paying $16,640 for poll workers alone.Some of the precincts may have five or more clerical workers,further raising the cost.

On top of poll workers, the county must pay for absentee andaffidavit ballots, as well as supplies like batteries and printerpaper.

One of the buildings used as a polling place – Montgomeryprecinct – is rented for $70, and the county also pays to rentportable toilets for some of the less-equipped precincts.

The money is well spent before the first vote is cast, so theonly way for the county to get a good return on its investment isto have a big voter turnout. Barely more than one quarter of thecounty’s registered voters – approximately 7,000 out of 26,000 -turned out for the primary election in March.

With the approximately 1,200 new voter registrations completedin Lincoln County before the Oct. 1 registration deadline, thecounty’s total number of voters now stands at 26,094 – almost 79percent of the county.

Since the Nov. 4 election is a presidential election – and onethat has seen prime political drama throughout the year – Watkinsis expecting at least 10,000 voters to turn out.

“I’m always optimistic – I think we’ll have 60 or 70 percentturn out to vote,” she said. “I think it’s just the interest -people will turn out to support their candidate. We should havearound 10,000 show up to vote.”

One-fifth of Watkins’ projected number will have voted beforethe election is held. She said 566 people have requested absenteeballots, either by picking them up personally or requesting them bymail. She estimated around 2,000 county residents – offshoreworkers, college students and the elderly – will vote absenteebefore the Nov. 1 absentee voting deadline.

The circuit clerk’s office on the second floor of the LincolnCounty-Brookhaven Government Complex will be open from 8 a.m. untilnoon on the last two Saturdays before the election – Oct. 25 andNov. 1 – for absentee voters.

“If you’re not sure, if there’s even the possibility you’ll beout of town on election day, go ahead and vote now,” Watkinsurged.