County weighs mail-only vote
It would cost less, but some on council want polls kept

By Jerry Cornfield
Everett Herald Writer    17 May 2005

EVERETT - Snohomish County could save more than $1 million next year if it mothballs its touch-screen machines and conducts elections entirely by mail ballot.

But four Snohomish County Councilmen say they're not ready to end the tradition of voting at the polls, despite the projected savings and passage of a new state law encouraging conversion to vote-by-mail elections.

"We're not interested," Council Chairman Gary Nelson said Monday.

Council Members John Koster, Jeff Sax and Dave Gossett each said they are unwilling to revamp the process now.

Councilman Kirke Sievers was unavailable for comment.

"I'm old school," Koster said. "People should go to the polls to vote unless they can't be there."

The issue is emerging as a result of two new state laws. One allows counties to switch to mail ballot elections on a vote of the county council.

The other requires counties using electronic voting machines to equip them with devices that provide a paper record for voters to review before transmitting their choices. The law takes effect Jan. 1, 2006.

Snohomish County has 1,000 machines and would need to spend as much as $1.5 million to buy enough devices for them.

Those machines are serving a decreasing percentage of voters at the county's 149 polling places. In November, 39 percent of voters went to the polls and the rest voted by mail. By 2008, it is predicted that 80 percent of county voters will cast ballots by mail.

Early next month, county Auditor Bob Terwilliger and election manager Caroline Diepenbrock will deliver a report to the County Council comparing the costs of all-mail ballot elections versus buying the verifiable paper audit trail devices.

"We are going to make a presentation. There are monetary and policy issues with both," Terwilliger said.

He said the final report should offer council members different scenarios that might involve buying fewer devices.

"It isn't just up or down on this," Terwilliger said.

Initial numbers in the report show the cost would be $1.31 for each of the county's 359,200 registered voters if elections were conducted by mail only.

If the county buys the equipment for the touch-screen machines, the cost of an election will be $11.66 per poll voter plus $1.34 per absentee voter. Those are based on 142,464 poll voters and 216,836 absentee voters -the totals in the November election.

Diepenbrock said the report accounts for a variety of charges and savings, including higher bills for postage and envelopes with mail-ballot elections and savings from not opening poll places and hiring fewer election day workers.

The biggest difference is the devices; each one costs about $1,000 and the county will want at least 1,500 to ensure there is adequate backup if there are breakdowns.

Gossett said he is looking forward to the report.

"We need to know all the consequences and what might result from switching to all-mail ballots," he said. "It's good to have the option, but I'm not prepared to do it."

Sax said it was simpler years ago.

"Maybe we should go back to the Dark Ages with paper and marker," he said.