Kootenai County Clerk Cliff Hayes sent out a press release on September 6, 2011, announcing that voters who choose to mail their absentee ballots for the November 8 elections will get the postage paid on their returned ballots. The process is intended to make it easier and more economical for persons throughout the county to vote early by absentee ballot. Additionally, it should save the County money, because paying the postage to have the ballots mailed back is less expensive than staffing outlying absent elector’s voting places (satellite locations). The Kootenai County Elections Department office will still be the absent elector’s voting place for absentee in-person early voting as required by state law.
And as noted in my post titled Pulling the Plug on Satellites, the new process will eliminate the need for bulk voting materials to be delivered, handled, and stored at satellite locations. To whatever extent first class US Mail is secure, this enhances the security of the voting process.
Any comments about the new process?
ADDENDUM 09-07-2011: This is in response to Ancientemplar’s comment. Assuming you are already registered to vote, you can complete this Application for Absent Elector’s Ballot and either mail or fax it to the Kootenai County Clerk’s Office.
well, at least now I know how to get the ballot to the office to get my vote counted but neither article explained how to procure the ballot in the first place. I guess I should have started voting absentee years ago.
Comment by Ancientemplar — September 7, 2011 @ 7:51 am
Ancientemplar,
Good comment. I’ve added an addendum to the main post linking to the absentee ballot application form and the Kootenai County Elections Office.
Comment by Bill — September 7, 2011 @ 8:06 am
Thanks Bill, it seems rather easy. I thought I may have to show some kind ID or such. All I have is a Canadian driver license.(HA-HA)
Comment by Ancientemplar — September 7, 2011 @ 9:40 am
I’m not happy about the County Clerk’s apparent love of voting by mail. Does he think it’s safer, less open to misuse? Or is it just cheaper. That’s not what I’m looking for as a voter, I want to know the system is secure and honest, even if it costs more and is less convenient.
Comment by mary — September 7, 2011 @ 10:39 am
Mary,
The County Clerk is now the chief elections officer for all the cities and towns. The prepaid postage alternative is a far better alternative than setting up an absent elector’s voting place (satellite voting) in each of these towns, and it is a reasonable alternative to doing that. The towns will still have their election day polling places, at least for now, so the only thing this does is allow those who want to vote early to do it more conveniently than if they had to drive into CdA to the County Elections Office.
The problem with having satellite voting locations (other than the County Elections Office) is that in order to properly secure the election materials at the end of each voting day, the county employees staffing the satellite would have to pack up all the election materials (already marked ballots, sealed ballot boxes, unmarked ballots, authentication stamp, envelopes, etc.) and return them to the County Elections Office for secure storage. Then they would have to reverse the process at the beginning of each election day and reopen the satellite. That would result in unnecessary handling of election materials.
In my opinion it would be unconscionable for the County to allow voting materials to remain at any satellite voting location overnight and out of the County’s custody.
We raised a concern early in our investigation of the 2009 City election. A crooked elector requests an absentee ballot but does not send it back in. The the elector marks that ballot, hides it on his bod, and goes to vote in person. In the privacy of the voting booth, the elector slips the marked absentee ballot into the folder with the polling place ballot, and drops both ballots into the ballot box. That could happen, however if the Elections staff is doing its job properly, that should be detected when the votes are counted and the box contained one more ballot than the polling place records show was cast. An alternative I suggested is to use a distinctive ballot for absentee or polling place ballots. If the polling place ballot is white, the absentee ballot should be a distinctively different color so the absentee ballot surreptitiously dropped into the polling place ballot box would be spotted and could be “spoiled” before it is run through the tabulator machinery.
I think what Hayes is proposing is a reasonable accommodation that saves money and allows more people to vote early more conveniently. It will likely increase the mail-in votes, so in that respect it will give the Elections Office a taste of what vote-by-mail will be like if it ever comes to pass. However, given the dire financial straits of the US Postal System, vote by mail may never come to pass. In fact, in the unlikely event that Uncle Sugar allows the USPS to fail, all absentee voting by mail may go away.
Comment by Bill — September 7, 2011 @ 12:50 pm
Thanks for the detailed explanation, Bill. I’m still not a fan of mail-in voting; I think it leaves open too many options for cheating and should be used only when someone is infirmed, out of town or honestly unable to get to the polls.
Comment by mary — September 7, 2011 @ 2:48 pm