Keep the polls open? Costly move likely

By Christopher Schwarzen   Seattle Times     24 August 2005

Snohomish County likely will spend more than $1 million to back up electronic voting machines with paper records instead of switching to a cheaper all-mail election system.

The county is required to purchase the backup equipment by January under a state law passed this year.

In a 3-2 vote, the council decided to hold a public hearing on the expenditure. The hearing probably will be at 10:30 a.m. Sept. 14.

The vote was along party lines, with the GOP majority prevailing.

Democrats Dave Gossett and Kirke Sievers said last week that the cost was too high to even consider and that the expenditure could prove fruitless in coming years if the state were to mandate a switch to all-mail ballots.

Both urged the council to give further consideration to an all-mail system, which, they said, would save the county money. All-mail voting has been approved or is nearing approval by many Washington counties, but not in the state's largest counties, including King, Pierce and Snohomish. Oregon has used all-mail balloting for several years.

"I know I'm not changing my vote," Sievers said last week of his opposition to the allocation.

The council could approve the expenditure after the public hearing.

During past discussions, Gossett has altered his views. He doesn't want to take away polling options for voters. But spending more than $1 million on equipment and an additional $600,000 annually ? as estimated by the county Auditor's Office ? for upkeep, seems a waste if voters want to cast ballots from home, Gossett said.

"I think we're flushing $1 million down the toilet," he said.

  
  
There could be a market for secondhand electronic voting machines now, Gossett contended, but that seems less likely down the road.

The Auditor's Office, which runs the county elections department, supports an all-mail voting system, Auditor Bob Terwilliger said.

Statistics show Snohomish County voters increasingly are choosing mail-in ballots over voting at the polls.

In April, 61 percent of 359,000 Snohomish County voters were registered to receive absentee ballots. The county estimates that will rise to 70 percent by December 2006 and to 82 percent by December 2009, according to Terwilliger. The need for electronic voting machines ? and backup paper units ? is expected to decrease during those periods, to 700 machines by December 2006 and 450 by December 2009.

"This capital investment will be outdated three years from now," Terwilliger said.

Councilman John Koster, however, is unwilling to give up precinct polling stations, citing a voter's right to privacy. He said that privacy could quickly evaporate if family members are coercing someone to vote a certain way on a mail-in ballot.

"There's no guarantee to privacy when they're all sitting around the table," he said.

Council Chairman Gary Nelson worries about the potential for fraud, especially after concerns over mail-in ballots during the 2004 governor's race.

Any expense will come from the 2006 budget, not yet written. But state law requires the equipment be in place by January, leaving the council little time to reach a decision.

"It's another one of those unfunded mandates," Councilman Jeff Sax said. "I say we send the bill to the state."