The "costs" of voting: The effects of vote-by-mail on election administration finance in Colorado

Objective In this article,I ask whether the adoption of vote-by-mail (VBM) has resulted in the promised cost reductions. Additionally, I examine the overall determinants of election administration expenditures after the implementation of VBM. Methods Using Colorado as a case study, I use county level expenditures to determine the effects of institutional change on election administration finance, as well as other institutional and socio-demographic determinants on costs. Results I find that adopting all-VBM elections significantly reduced expenditures. Additionally, I find that after VBM was implemented, the primary institutional determinants of expenditures are the proportion of mail-in ballots received, as well as the number of poll-workers, and early voting sites. Finally, I find that socio-demographic characteristics are predictive of expenditures for election administration. Counties with higher income spent less per voter in federal elections. Counties with higher proportions of Latinx voting-aged populations spent less per voter, even when controlling for turnout. Conclusion The results strongly indicate that moving to all-VBM elections can help cash-strapped counties save money. However, conversion to VBM may not guarantee that expenditures will be spent equitably.