The Hamilton County Election Commission has rightly been seeking for some time now to reduce the cost of holding elections by reducing the number of voting precincts it is required to staff.
The need for that streamlining has been demonstrated in previous elections and was apparent once again during the recent Super Tuesday primary.
Nine precincts in Hamilton County failed to attract even one voter on Super Tuesday, and 49 of the county’s 128 precincts had turnout of less than 10 percent of registered voters.
Extremely low turnout in some precincts is not really surprising, because some precincts have fewer than 10 registered voters.
Maintaining all the existing precincts is costly, though, because every precinct has to be staffed with an officer who is paid $160 and another worker who is paid $100 — regardless of whether any voters actually show up to cast ballots on Election Day.