Stanislaus County Begins Test of Mail-In Ballots

Stanislaus County residents have begun casting their votes in Tuesday’s special election, the first test on a statewide ballot of a voting-by-mail system that would do away with the traditional trek to the polls.

Officials in the Central Valley county (population 395,000) believe the system promises significant savings to taxpayers and higher voter turnouts.

The trial run at letting registered voters cast ballots from home is confined to just one county. But election officials and political party leaders are watching closely, and if the system works, Californians everywhere may be on the way to dropping their vote in a mail slot instead of a ballot box.

Stanislaus County Clerk Karen Mathews, who has conducted four local mail-in ballot elections, estimated the all-mail election will result in $120,000 in savings and a higher voter turnout.

“This system gives voters increased opportunity to participate in the process, saves money and reduces the opportunity for voter fraud--all at the same time,” she said. “I am very enthusiastic about it.”

Chief Deputy Secretary of State Tony Miller agrees, adding that the system has promise for the state as a whole. “Voting by mail would dramatically increase voter participation,” he said. “Eighty-plus percent turnouts would be routine.”

Voter turnout in California has been as low as 37%, in a 1979 statewide special election.

Republican and Democratic party officials are watching the experiment closely. In the past, Republican officials believed that a low voter turnout worked in their favor, and most Democratic officials believed that a high voter turnout was better for their candidates.

“We don’t know how this all-mail ballot thing is going to work out,” said Stanislaus County Republican Central Committee Chairman Nicholas Bavaro, who doubles as GOP state vice chairman. “We’ll just have to wait and see what happens on Nov. 2.”

The Stanislaus pilot project was authorized in a bill passed by the 1993 Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Pete Wilson. A report by Stanislaus officials is to be made to the Legislature by Jan. 1, 1995. It would take additional legislation to establish a statewide system.

Part of that state system as now envisioned would require mail-in ballot envelopes with a designated spot for voters to place their thumbprints using inkless ink.

Other advantages of the mail-in vote include taxpayer savings, reduced fraud, and faster and more accurate counting, Miller said.

Nine states and the District of Columbia allow mail-only voting but with conditions such as permitting the procedure only for bond issue elections.

California’s test mail-in vote in Stanislaus County is taking place in an agricultural region of the San Joaquin Valley. The biggest city is Modesto, with 178,500 residents.

County election officials mailed out 174,489 ballots to registered voters. As of Thursday, more than 52,000 ballots, or more than 30%, had been returned.

If the all-mail ballot system is expanded statewide, it also could substantially reduce the value of last-minute hit pieces. Also gone would be the effect of exit polls.

County election officials have tried to foresee potential problems. What if a registered voter shows up at the county clerk’s office Tuesday and says that he or she has lost their mail ballot but wants to vote? Answer: They will be given a provisional ballot to be counted if no mail-in ballot can be located, which prevents the chance of double voting.

For the voter who forgets to mail in a ballot, there are 18 receiving centers in various cities for dropping off ballots on Election Day.

And what about voters who mail in their ballots, but then change their minds and want to change their votes? “Sorry, they can’t do that,” Mathews said.