County will consider all-mail voting

AARON CORVIN; The News Tribune
Last d: December 11th, 2004 02:40 AM (PST)
Going to the polls to vote in Pierce County might go away under a local initiative to consider requiring mail-only elections.

The County Council has created a task force to examine the costs and benefits of requiring all of the county?s registered voters to cast their ballots by mail.

Not every seat on the task force has been filled, and public hearings haven?t been scheduled. But the 10-member Pierce County Mail-In Voting Advisory Task Force, approved by the council Nov. 23, has its orders: examine mail-in voting, including the operating costs of polling places and voting machines, and the experiences of other local governments.

The task force must report its findings and recommendations to the council and County Executive John Ladenburg by July 31, 2005.

Councilman Dick Muri (R-Steilacoom), who spearheaded the creation of the task force, believes the county would save thousands of dollars a year if it converted to mail-only elections.

?That?s money the county could use for police or parks,? Muri said.

However, the county?s elections chief, County Auditor Pat McCarthy, said she prefers to keep poll voting as an option.

?Elections are about more than what is necessarily efficient,? she said. ?It?s about how we feel about our country, our values.?

McCarthy said she also doubts mail-only elections would save money.

?Printing costs are high when you?re talking about vote-by-mail,? she said.

Council members Shawn Bunney (R-Lake Tapps), Calvin Goings (D-Puyallup) and Harold Moss (D-Tacoma) endorsed the ordinance that created the task force. On Nov. 23, when the council adopted the county?s 2005 budget, it also approved the task force and appropriated $5,000 to support it.

Pierce County has 405,000 registered voters, McCarthy said. In the November general election, more than 70,000 voters cast their ballots at polling places. At the same time, McCarthy said, more than 250,000 voters cast their ballots by mail as either permanent absentee voters or as one-time absentee voters.

    
To make all registered voters in Pierce County cast their ballots by mail, the auditor?s office would have to create new precincts with fewer than 200 registered voters each, according to state law.

?Initially, that particular provision (of state law) was set up to take care of the difficulty a lot of counties had in rural areas of finding polling places,? said John Pearson, deputy director of the secretary of state?s elections division.

Oregon has conducted mail-only elections since 1998. In Washington, the counties with mail-only elections are Skamania, Pend Oreille, Okanogan, Ferry and Clallam.

Election officials in Mason and Whatcom counties are considering moving to all-mail elections. In November, Mason County sent an advisory ballot to voters asking them if they support mail-only elections. Roughly 80 percent of voters said yes.

As part of its work, Pierce County?s task force will recommend whether to put a similar advisory ballot to voters here. Councilman Bunney said examining mail-only elections is one of several moves the county is making to cut the cost of providing government services and to avoid increasing taxes.

McCarthy said the proposal comes at a bad time for her office, which already must work on complying with new federal election requirements next year.

McCarthy pointed out that the county already reduced the number of polling places to cut costs. She said she doesn?t mind having a conversation about mail-only elections.

?The question is, do we want to let people have options, and is it going to be that much of a cost savings?? she said. MAIL-IN VOTING TASK FORCE MISSION Examine mail-in voting, including the operating costs of polling places and voting machines, and the experiences of other local governments. members

 ? Two members of the County Council.

 ? County Auditor Pat McCarthy.

 ? County Executive John Ladenburg or his designee.

 ? A representative of the county Budget and Finance Department.

 ? Prosecuting Attorney Gerry Horne or his designee.

 ? The coordinator of the county Performance Audit Committee.

 ? Three citizens appointed by Ladenburg and confirmed by the seven-member council.