ELKHART CO. — Poll workers are expecting a record number of voters for next week's primary. Thousands of first-time voters plan to cast their ballot. But for one local government, handling the surge is breaking the bank.

Elkhart County's voter registration office says it's processed nearly 3,700 applications this year — 1,281 in the last three weeks.

That's twice what they usually see in a presidential primary. Voter registration employee Shelley Basham attributes the rush to all the attention over Indiana’s role in the presidential primary.

“Nobody thought that Indiana would play in on the presidential race for the Democratic Party and it is, so we’re going to count,” she said.

The office took on two more employees to handle the workload and full-time workers worked overtime.

But with an already tight-budget that included cuts last year, workers say they're almost out of cash.

“And we’re going to have to come back and ask for more money,” said Basham. “We don’t have a choice.”

Voter registration officials say they're tallying up just how much money they'll need for the fall election. They plan on asking the county council in June. They say it will certainly be in the thousands.