Council to rethink mail-only vote
When a Democrat-controlled Snohomish County Council starts work in January it will reconsider a change in how we vote.

By Jeff Switzer     Everett Herald    19 December 2005

The Snohomish County Council is setting the table for a January vote to say goodbye to electronic voting machines and switch to all-mail ballots.

This afternoon, Democrat County Councilman Dave Gossett plans to discuss the issue in committee.

All-mail elections

The Snohomish County Council Operations and Performance Audit Committee will meet to discuss all-mail voting at 3 p.m. today in the eighth-floor chambers, 3000 Rockefeller Ave., Everett.
"I want to be able to run it through the proper procedures to bring it up early next year so we can settle the issue," Gossett said Friday.

In January, control of the County Council shifts from Republicans to a 3-2 majority for Democrats.

Democrat County Executive Aaron Reardon and county Auditor Bob Terwilliger are pressing for a switch to all-mail elections.

State law now requires the county's electronic voting machines be connected to expensive paper audit devices that would cost $1 million. A federal grant would cover just 16 percent of the cost. Also, most of the devices probably wouldn't be needed in coming years as more Snohomish County voters switch to absentee mail-in ballots.

To avoid the expense, the county could go to all-mail elections.

About 61 percent of active voters in Snohomish County are registered as absentee voters, and 39 percent vote at the polls. But of the 175,000 who voted Nov. 8, 76 percent voted by mail.

Of the state's 39 counties, 32 now vote by mail exclusively, having switched this year after election laws were relaxed.

The soonest Snohomish County could hold an all-mail election would be the 2006 primary. Spring school district elections will be held at the polls and by absentee ballots, using borrowed paper audit devices from Reno, Nev., Terwilliger said.

The bloc of County Council Republicans - Gary Nelson, John Koster and Jeff Sax - supports the current election system of polling places and absentee ballots. But Gossett said the cost of the audit machines, ongoing costs and voting trends make a strong argument for switching to a vote-by-mail system.

Sax lost his re-election bid to Democrat Dave Somers, who has said he supports all-mail elections.

There appears to be enough support to create about 50 regional -off centers for voters who want to deliver their ballots rather than mail them in.

"They can still go and cast their ballots," Gossett said. "The only difference is how people receive their ballots."