Mail-In Ballots Being Returned At Record Pace

Two days before primary day, Pierce County voters had already returned more mail-in ballots than election officials ordinarily expect in an off-year primary election.

The county auditor’s office says more than 49,000 have been returned in the county’s first election conducted entirely by mail, a sign that many voters prefer the convenience of mail to casting ballots in person.

Election officials enclosed permanent absentee voter registration forms along with ballots. County Auditor Cathy PearsallStipek said the response has forced her to hire a half-dozen temporary workers to process requests.

The county will sell its voting machines - and cut the number of voting sites - because of the popularity of mail-in ballots, she said.

Besides boosting turnout, the mail-in election will save the county at least $300,000, Pearsall-Stipek said.

Not everyone likes the new system. Some say a mail-in election creates opportunities for fraud; others say paying for a stamp amounts to paying a poll tax.

“I will not pay 32 cents to be able to cast a ballot,” said Gary Lynd of Orting. “I have voted in every kind of election that was possible since Jimmy Carter’s election, and I refuse to vote in this one due to the fact that I will not pay to vote.”

Such logic seems petty to Jill Milner of Spanaway.

“People should consider themselves lucky that it only costs 32 cents to have your say,” Milner said. “It’s just unbelievable that someone would shrug off their responsibility as a voter.”

In neighboring Thurston County, Auditor Sam Reed said the mail-in system works so well that voters in his county will mail ballots in the primary and the general election.

Thurston County has previously limited mail-ins to primary and special elections.