Adams County is gearing up for what looks to be a crowded election. Roughly 50 candidates signed up to run in the county elections alone.

But a healthy democracy has its price, Election Commission Chairman Larry Gardner said.

The 2006 election and run-off cost $32,000, Election Commissioner Mitch Ballard said.

But because of the number of candidates, this year’s elections will likely be even costlier, Gardner said.

“Last year, we ran a low voter turnout primary, and we used one-third the machines we had,” Gardner said. “There’s going to be a big difference in costs getting into the primary in August.”

Costs will jump because the county will need to hire almost twice the number of poll workers because the two primaries will be like running two elections, he said.

And that’s not counting the likelihood of a runoff after the primaries.

“Right now, with the number of people running for office, we have a very, very good chance we’ll have a Democratic runoff,” he said. “There are so many things that are going to come into play in this election.”

The county will likely spend anywhere from $14,000 to $20,000 just in paying poll workers, Gardner said.

“Then, you’ve got to buy batteries for the machines, encoders and you’ve got to order ballots for both races,” he said.

Because this is the first time the new voting machines will be used in a high-interest general election — which in itself might be a challenge — Gardner said previous elections do not serve as a good gauge for the cost of this year’s election.

The county will need to buy equipment for the machines, pay poll workers and buy ballots. Even though this year’s election will mostly be conducted on electronic ballots, the county has to take into account absentee ballots and visual ballots for those not on the election rolls, Gardner said.

And the two primaries will be a financial and logistical challenge, too, he said.

“You’ve got two different parties running elections,” he said. “Each has their own recording clerks, ballot boxes and ballots. It’s like running two elections at the same time, dollars and cents-wise.”