Debating the ballot box

BOISE – Kootenai County’s elections chief hopes that when it comes to filling out ballots, if the counties mail them, Idahoans will vote.

A House committee early this month introduced legislation pushed by County Clerk Dan English to allow all counties to use postal voting – a system experts believe increases turnout in low-profile elections.

While 26 percent of registered Idaho voters turned out for the 2006 primary, for example, twice as many voted in the state’s 22 entirely vote-by-mail precincts.

“Particularly in those off-year elections and smaller elections, it does make a noticeable difference, and that’s part of the advantage,” English said.

His proposal has garnered strong support from his counterparts statewide and from Idaho’s secretary of state. But many North Idaho Republicans and legislators, concerned with potential for election fraud, oppose trading traditional trips to polling booths for mailed ballots come Election Day.

“I don’t like the idea, and I don’t know many Republicans who do,” said Brad Corkill, Kootenai County Republican Party chairman. “People could have their ballots filled out by someone else. That just leaves too much possibility for error.”

Vote-by-mail advocates realize that selling the change to lawmakers will likely be “tough sledding,” said Secretary of State Ben Ysursa.

“Folks were elected under a certain process,” he said. “Here it’s viewed as a dramatic change.”

Idahoans now may request to be mailed absentee ballots, but only precincts with fewer than 125 voters are allowed to use mail-in voting solely. Under consideration by the House State Affairs Committee, HB 94 would give counties power to change to a vote-by-mail system, as Washington has done.

Voters would be mailed a non-forwardable ballot about 2 ½ weeks before the election. They could return it through the mail or drop it off at a secure location. And they’d still have the option of using a handful of traditional voting machines.

Greater turnout

Nearly a quarter of Kootenai County voters used absentee ballots in the 2006 general election – the second-largest percentage of any Idaho county. Overall, absentee ballots represented about 12 percent of Idaho votes.

The number of Oregon voters in primary elections has averaged about 15 percentage points more than those in Idaho in the last 16 elections and about 16 percentage points more since Oregon switched to postal voting.

Vote-by-mail gives citizens better access to voting and more time to become informed about the issues and candidates, English said.

“It’s a growing phenomena,” he said. “It’s, I think, very voter-friendly. It acknowledges the reality of people’s lives today that are busy and harried.”

Oregon has used all-mail elections in some counties since 1987, when they became popular as a cost-saving measure. In 1998, Oregon’s League of Women Voters led an initiative, which voters passed, to convert the entire state.

A 2003 study of Oregon’s system by a University of Oregon professor found that it increased turnout slightly among women, younger voters, the disabled, the retired and homemakers. The results suggested that a change in party affiliation was unlikely.

Similarly, a 2005 report by the Early Voting Information Center at Reed College in Portland states that postal voting heightened participation in low-profile contests by as much as 10 percent, but only among people who already vote.

In Washington, 34 of 39 counties use postal voting, although the state only requires ballots to be postmarked by Election Day, sometimes creating long delays in tallying results. The hotly disputed 2004 Washington gubernatorial election, for example, wasn’t resolved until June 2005, partly because of controversy surrounding absentee ballots.

Voter fraud

Formerly wary of mail-in voting, English changed his mind when election workers as a group became older and less interested in working controversial elections, he said. At the same time, officials at schools and fire stations, concerned about security, were increasingly reluctant to have thousands of strangers in their buildings, he said.

Skeptics, however, maintain that postal voting allows people to coerce other voters or steal and fill out their ballots.

“I’m dead set against it because I think it opens it up wide open to fraud,” said Ruthie Johnson, a longtime Kootenai County Republican from Hayden. “You can bring up a number of things, but it all comes back to the fraud.”

People’s signatures change, making verification difficult, Johnson said. She also said landlords can have several people rent an apartment in quick succession, so absentee ballots may be mailed back by new tenants.

“I think it’s just a lot wiser to have people voting in precincts where I think they would be less tempted to say they were somebody else,” she said, adding that in her area poll workers generally know voters.

Ysursa said there hasn’t been voter fraud in Idaho in “recent memory.” The Reed College report found few reported cases of fraud nationwide, noting that Oregon election workers verify signatures on every ballot. Oregon officials logged 62 cases of people voting twice and 1,057 cases of suspicious signatures in 2004, according to the report.

Under the proposed bill, Idaho’s system would mandate workers be trained in examining signatures before votes are counted. That doesn’t happen now with traditional ballots, English said.

The Reed College report also found that hybrid elections like Idaho’s, which involve both absentee and traditional voting, pose a greater security risk.

Paul Gronke, director of the Early Voting Information Center, said the level of mail-voting fraud is “extremely low,” adding that states with a history of corruption should be more concerned.

“In all candor, I don’t view Idaho that way,” Gronke said.

Privilege or private?

English said election workers in Kootenai County can no longer keep pace with new voters. Also, people wary of mail-voting fraud should not endorse absentee voting, he said.

“Any system, if people want to cheat, they can,” he said.

Rep. Marge Chadderdon, R-Coeur d’Alene, said she’s concerned about cost and fraud.

“I’ve had too many occasions knowing someone having a ballot forwarded to them,” even though ballots are not supposed to be forwarded, she said.

She added that voting at the polls allows people to exercise a significant freedom.

“I think it’s too important of a privilege that we’re given to not have it set aside,” she said.

English, however, said voting is supposed to be private rather than a community event.

“The sense of Americana is not enough of a reason to prevent voters from having the full convenience that vote-by-mail would offer,” he said.

John Fortier, a research fellow for the American Enterprise Institute who wrote a book about absentee and early voting, said traditional polling places should remain the center of elections. He recommends expanding polling place hours and offering short periods of early voting as alternatives to absentee or postal voting.

“The polling place does have important protections,” Fortier said.

While English said vote-by-mail can be cheaper, opponents said it’s not worth the risk.

“If our election could be stolen, why save the money?” Johnson said.

Access concerns

Rep. Mary Lou Shepherd, D-Wallace, touted mail voting as less expensive and more secure. The change would benefit the elderly, she said.

But increasing turnout isn’t everything, said Kelly Buckland, executive director of the Idaho State Independent Living Council. He said the state recently spent about $6 million on machines that allow disabled Idahoans to vote. The visually and mobility impaired would not be able to vote independently by mail, he said.

“As far as we can see, it would reduce access (for) people with disabilities to be able to vote independently and privately,” he said.

Although Oregon implemented its vote-by-mail system before Congress passed the Help America Vote Act of 2002, Idaho is required to make its voting system accessible for the disabled, Buckland said. Voting by mail is not an acceptable method, he said.

English said counties would keep some of the special voting machines and consider other ways of reaching the disabled.

Rep. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d’Alene, expressed concern that mail-in voting would encourage participation by uninformed voters.

“People choosing not to vote is, to some degree, participation in the process,” he said.

English disagreed, saying vote-by-mail “doesn’t magically turn non-voters into voters.”

The bill is endorsed by the Idaho Association of Counties and former Govs. Cecil Andrus and Phil Batt, English said. The State Affairs Committee is scheduled to hear the bill Wednesday.