County changes to mail-in elections

By Steven J. Barry    Port Townsend Leader    04 May 2005

After a heated public comment session Monday morning, the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners voted to forego the use of traditional polling stations in the county and switch to elections using all mail-in ballots.

Chairman Phil Johnson and Commissioner Pat Rodgers voted to pass the measure. Commissioner David Sullivan did not vote, as he remained hospitalized in Seattle on Monday. (See related story on page A-1.)

County Auditor

 
Donna Eldridge told commissioners that while Jefferson County residents already have confidence in the voting process, the switch would increase the accuracy of elections. She argued that using both polling stations and absentee ballots spread election officials too thin between two different systems.

"When your staff can concentrate on just one type of election, your chances of error are less," Eldridge said.

Cautions raised

Members of the Jefferson County Republican Party who were present at Monday's meeting told commissioners that while all mail-in elections might be practical, the switch should be postponed at least until after the close of state Republicans' legal challenge to the November 2004 governor election. The trial in Chelan County Superior Court is slated to start May 23 and is expected to last two weeks. The state GOP leadership contends that vote counting problems, mostly in heavily Democratic King County, cost Republican Dino Rossi the election to Christine Gregoire.

"I think it's really very premature to do an all mail-in thing until we've done an autopsy of what happened around the state," Al Frank of Adelma Beach said during public comment.

Jim Hagen, vice-chairman of the county Republican Party, said that in light of the trial in Chelan County, "any discussion of all-mail voting should be viewed in the overall context of election reform."

Hagen also said switching to mail-in voting is "another step in the erosion of the interaction of our community."

"What's next?" he asked. "Are we just going to e-mail in our votes?"

Eldridge said the change is something county residents are leaning toward anyway; more than two-thirds of voters already cast their ballots by mail, she said. Eldridge also said she has been approached in the past by poll workers who recommended going to elections by mail after they were shocked by low turnout at the polls.

"One year at Kala Point only one voter came in a 13-hour period," Eldridge said.

She pointed out that in the November 2004 general elections, 72 percent of Jefferson County voters sent in absentee/vote-by-mail ballots.

Cost-saving maneuver

Eldridge also said the switch will ultimately save the county money. She said that if the 2004 general elections had been all mail-in, it would have saved Jefferson County taxpayers some $6,000.

The cost of implementing the switch will likely be ameliorated by $127,500 in federal money allocated through the Washington State Secretary of State to put the county in compliance with the Help America Vote Act of 2002.

That measure requires at least one Direct Recording Elections (DRE) machine ? a device that allows the disabled to cast their ballots in secrecy ? at each polling station.

The federal funds would have gone to help cover the cost of 16 machines. The resolution commissioners signed Monday states that even with that assistance, purchasing the machines would place a "direct unnecessary burden on the taxpayers of Jefferson County."

Now, however, the county will only need two DREs: one for the courthouse and one backup machine. The remaining federal dollars will cover the change to elections by mail, according to the resolution.

Auditor's decision

Gov. Gregoire signed into law May 4 a measure that gives county commissioners the authority to direct their auditors to go all mail-in regardless of the size of voting precincts. Under previous state regulations, a county could go all mail-in only if less than 200 people per precinct visited the polls.

But commissioners gave Eldridge the authority to go ahead with the change regardless of whether she signed it.

The resolution commissioners signed Monday gave the auditor the authority to "undertake any and all actions required to conduct all Jefferson County elections by mail in accordance with state law," meaning Eldridge could have split the county's precincts as necessary to comply with the previous state law.

BOCC Chairman Johnson said that while he had viewed the change as something that would strip him of his right to go to the polls, he now saw the need for the change.