Democracy on the cheap - what a wonderful phrase to describe what
is going on across the nation. One of the arguments advanced against paper
backup to electronic voting is that the buying and maintaining the printers and
providing the paper cost too much.
Mailing ballots only to a reduced universe almost guarantees that the
universe will continue to shrink. The notion behind all mail elections is that
it will increase voter participation. This process runs counter to that goal for
the single purpose of saving money. We find that 15% to 25% of people listed as
"permanent absentee voters" - people who affirmatively requested to receive and
absentee ballot for every election - end up not voting in high profile
elections. In municipal elections that percentage often eclipses 50%. Applying
the Fr. Collins concept, we would stop sending ballot to those people, even
though they had requested one. Next up, I suppose would bed sending a bill for
the postage and printing to those who receive a ballot and don't vote.
Democracy on the cheap cheapens Democracy.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, April 15, 2011 10:36
AM
Subject: [EL] Query about all-mail
election only sending ballots automatically to "active"voters (e.g, voted in
2010)
Folks,
I had a query that to me seems quite important, given the combination of
many jurisdictions moving to all-mail elections and tight budgets leading to
trying to run our democracy on the cheap.
We recently were tracking city elections that took place this month in
Fort Collins, Colorado. Fort Collins is a city with a population close to
150,000. It holds city elections in April of each odd year. Since 1995,
it has done all-mail elections. It mails ballots to all city residents who are
"active voters," as defined by Larimer County.
To be an active voter, you need to have voted in the last general
elections (in this case, last November), registered between that election and
March 7th or responded to a mailing from the county after the last general
election.While you can request a ballot in person if you don't get one in the
mail, that's rather onerous- - and apparently only 14 people did it this year
after ballots were mailed March 18.
What is striking to me is that this has a clear impact on the electorate
and was wondering if this raised any alarm bells for those on the listserv.
The city clerk was pleased that the list was clean, as only about 3,000
ballots came back as undeliverable,but one can assume that at least some 2008
presidential voters who skipped the midterms (as about one in three do
nationally) might have voted if they received a ballot in the mail. This seems
to me a dangerous precedent, but perhaps one we'll see more often applied in
vote-by-mail elections with costs associated with printing and mailing ballots
.
To get a sense of the different universe of voters in different
elections, see below.
- Rob Richie, FairVote
FORT COLLINS ELECTIONS
* 2011 elections (after midterm elections): 62,260 voters, 28, 093
ballots cast [open seat for mayor won with 46%]
* 2009 elections (after 2008 prez race): 80,250 active voters, 25,169
ballots cast [incumbent mayor wins with 68%]
* 2007 elections (after lower turnout midterm): 56,898 active voters,
21,164 ballots cast [incumbent mayor wins with 82%]
* 2005 elections (after prez race): 72,477 active voters, 31,498 ballots
cast [open seat for mayor won with 47%]
* 2003 elections (after midterms): 50,738 active voters, 26,010 ballots
cast [ incumbent mayor wins with 58%]
*
--
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"Respect for Every Vote
and Every Voice"
Rob Richie
Executive
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FairVote
6930 Carroll Avenue, Suite
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www.fairvote.org rr@fairvote.org(301) 270-4616
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