COEUR d'ALENE - Kootenai County is looking at nearly halving its voting precincts, the county clerk announced on Friday, with the aim of improving election efficiency.

Clerk Cliff Hayes will recommend reducing the current 71 precincts to 44 at the commissioners' weekly meeting next Tuesday.

"It's less expensive, it's probably easier because we're going to have to train less people," Hayes said on Friday. "We want to make it available to all residents to be able to vote conveniently, and we think we've done that."

The clerk and commissioners have collaborated on the possible reduction, Hayes said, prompted by the precinct revision required to accommodate the recent legislative redistricting.

Hayes said he arrived at the 44 number by combining a handful of current precincts. Under his recommended version, each precinct would contain between 799 and 2,397 registered voters.

"There are some that actually have more than that in the current precincts," Hayes said. "So we tried to spread this stuff out, make it a little bit more even."

Hayes said the new precincts would also be within a 30-minute drive for voters, as directed by the commissioners, and would have adequate parking and be ADA accessible.

Although more staff would be necessary at each polling station to accommodate larger numbers, Hayes said, the county will need fewer elections personnel overall.

"You're talking employee hours that we would be reducing, which is probably the biggest cost savings," he said. "Some precincts, we have three people sitting there, and they're busy for maybe 45 minutes out of a 12-hour day."

The potential savings had yet to be tallied on Friday, Hayes said.

The county still encourages residents to vote absentee, he added, noting that that method increased from 9 percent in 2004 to more than 30 percent in 2008.

"We also paid for postage on this last election, and that may encourage more to utilize it," he said.

It is the commissioners' decision on how to change precincts.

Commissioner Dan Green said he anticipates hearing more about fiscal impacts on Tuesday, but he believes the precinct change would have benefits.

"It's kind of touched on finding facilities that can handle the voters," Green said.

The commissioners are always concerned with cutting costs, he added.

The commissioners' meeting is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Tuesday in the board chambers in the Kootenai County Administration Building.

Hayes acknowledged that if the lawsuit the commissioners joined to fight the recent redistricting wins, the county would have to change its precincts again.

"But we're required to redraw the precinct by Jan. 15," Hayes said. "We've just got to move forward, and if it changes, we'll move again."