More counties adopt mail-only voting, cite savings and absentees

The Associated Press   26 May 2005

SHELTON, Wash. ? A push for all-mail voting appears to be gathering steam in Washington state.

Jefferson County commissioners voted to make the switch earlier this month and Mason County commissioners voted 2 to 1 yesterday in Shelton to follow suit.

Kitsap County election officials said yesterday they're likely to adopt a similar move next month, and Grant County commissioners said at a meeting Tuesday they would likely hold a hearing on the issue.

Earlier this year the Legislature authorized counties to switch to voting exclusively by mail. The proportion of mail-in voting by state residents, mostly through absentee ballots, has risen to about 70 percent overall and 80 percent in Mason County.

The legislation was sought by county auditors and other election officials as a way to cut costs while following voter preferences.

The Mason County vote was delayed for a week because Commissioner Lynda Ring Erickson questioned the move, but she joined Commissioner Tim Sheldon in voting yes on Wednesday.

Commissioner Jayni Kami said her no vote was a "form of protest" against what she considered a reduction of voter "responsibility and privilege" to make voting more convenient and less expensive.

Kami also questioned voter privacy outside polling places and warned that those mailing early have no recourse if they change their minds late in an election campaign.

Auditor Al Brotche noted that 82 percent of county residents favored mail-only voting in an advisory ballot last November.

In neighboring Kitsap County, city and town councils in Bremerton, Port Orchard and Poulsbo have approved the change for the primary election in September, leaving only Bainbridge Island to weigh in, elections supervisor Dolores Gilmore said.
  
  
She said she would ask county commissioners to make all elections in the county mail-only when they meet next month.

The case for a similar but not quite total change in Grant County was made Tuesday to commissioners by Auditor Bill Varney. Most of the questions they asked concerned the potential for fraud.

"I'm not going to sit here and tell you that we're going to catch everyone who forges a signature," Varney said.

At the same time, he said voter fraud would remain an issue regardless of whether the county goes all-mail.

Under Varney's plan, all but five of the 33 Grant County polling places would be closed, a move he said would save about $168,000.

A similar hybrid system is used in more populous Pierce County, which relies mainly on absentees but also has 95 "super sites" for in-person voting on election day.