County goes vote-by-mail
Auditor's proposal will save $1.6 million

Jon Gambrell, The Bellingham Herald   13 January 2005

Poll voting is no more in Whatcom County.

In a 7-0 vote Tuesday night, the Whatcom County Council approved an ordinance to make the county entirely vote-by-mail, becoming the largest county in the state to cast ballots only by mail.

Under the ordinance, Whatcom County will abandon its more than 40 polls and split into vote-by-mail precincts, each with fewer than 200 active poll voters, to follow state law.

Voters will cast fill-in-the-bubble ballots by mail or at official county -off sites, though seven touch screen voting devices will be available for the disabled.

The changes, proposed by Auditor Shirley Forslof, come as the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002 forces election staff around the country to stop using punch card-style ballots.

Forslof's plan will cost the county only $18,958, as opposed to buying more than 300 touch screen devices at an initial cost of $1.6 million if poll voting continued.

After the council voted unanimously to approve the change, Forslof said it will take several months to redraw the county's voting precincts, with her goal to have vote-by-mail in place before the November elections.

With three-fourths of the county's voters casting absentee ballots in the last election, Councilwoman Sharon Roy said going to vote-by-mail wouldn't be that big a change.

"Seventy-five to 80 percent of our people already vote this way," she said. "I doubt there will be a rush of confusion on Election Day."

During a sparsely attended public comment period, most speakers lauded Forslof and the switch to vote-by-mail - though with some reservations.

Gerrit Kuiken, a Lynden resident speaking on behalf of the Whatcom County Republican Party, said the party supported the measure. He also asked officials limit the number of additional precincts they'd have to create to go vote-by-mail.

Worried about having an auditable trail after the election, Lummi Island resident Myra Ramos asked to always have paper ballots to go back to.

"It's important to have the paper," she said. "It's important to use the paper to make sure the election is accurate."

Just before the council's vote, Forslof answered one final question, from Councilwoman Laurie Caskey-Schreiber: Would voters ever again receive "I Voted" poll stickers?

Forslof offered a quick assurance: "There will be rolls of them at the ballot -off sites."