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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Kootenai clerk votes ‘yes’ for mail-in balloting

Dismal statewide voter turnout in the May primary has Kootenai County Clerk Dan English on a crusade to change the way Idahoans vote.

He’s pushing legislation that would give counties the option to create a vote-by-mail system, eliminating poll voting.

English said vote-by-mail increases participation. Voters in Washington and Oregon already use mail-in ballots.

“I can’t think of anything where I’ve had so much positive reaction to the vote-by-mail concept,” English told the Kootenai County Democrat Club on Friday. “It’s touched a nerve I didn’t know was there.”

Spokane County had its first mail-only election in March and Elections Manager Paul Brandt told the group turnout increased. Special school elections that traditionally get about 20 percent voter turnout were averaging 40 percent.

Already, 15 percent to 20 percent of registered voters in Kootenai County vote absentee, which is a mail-in system. That’s nearly double the statewide average, English said.

English will present the draft legislation to the Idaho Association of County Recorders and Clerks this week at the annual meeting in Montpelier. He expects an enthusiastic response. In September, the Idaho Association of Counties will decide whether to sponsor the legislation.

If it does, the Idaho Legislature will consider it during its 2007 session.

Although vote-by-mail is expected to save money and increase participation, some questions remain, especially about security.

English said mail-in ballots are actually more secure. Voters must sign the outside envelope before returning the ballot. Each signature is compared with the voter’s registration card and verified. When people go to the polls, an election worker checks to see that the voter’s name is on the rolls but doesn’t ask for identification or verify the signature.

Rep. George Sayler, D-Coeur d’Alene, is a retired history teacher and concerned about changing a political culture in which people actually go into polling booths.

“It’s a major policy change to the heart of our democracy,” Sayler said, adding he has a lot to consider before supporting the measure.

English said he shared the same initial hesitation. He decided to pursue the change when he realized it was the best for voters and the political system, and it might help get more than 26 percent of the state’s voters to participate.

Brandt said many people have memories of going to neighborhood polling sites and it was often a social outing. Yet, he said, times have changed. No longer is there a polling place on every corner. Instead people go to mega-polling sites, where hundreds of people cast ballots. In some places, he said, polling locations accommodate as many as 5,000 voters.

Lewis Currie lived in Oregon when it went to all mail-in elections.

“I think it’s a marvelous system,” he said. “You can be at home, take your time and do the research.”