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Mail-in ballots gain popularity, improve vote participation

Lead Summary
By
Lori Sorenson

The day is soon coming when all rural voters in Rock County will cast their ballots by mail.
Rock County Auditor Treasurer Ashley Kurtz said that’s the trend for small precincts with low turnout and high costs of hosting elections.
Minnesota statute says a town of any size not located in a metropolitan county or a city having fewer than 400 registered voters and not located in a metropolitan county may provide balloting by mail. 
“So all of Rock County’s townships would be eligible to do this, as would all of the cities except Luverne,” Kurtz said.
Hardwick city clerk Tammy Johnson said the Aug. 9 primary was her first experience with mail-in ballots.
“It’s so much smoother,” said Johnson, who coordinates elections in Hardwick.
“I’m old-fashioned, and I like the idea of everyone coming to the polls to cast their ballots, but it just makes sense (to mail in ballots).”
She said she enjoyed not having to haul the heavy voting equipment (which she called a “small refrigerator”) from Hardwick to the courthouse in Luverne.
“And my dedicated election judges are getting older,” she said. “It was getting harder for them to sit there all day.”
Precincts like Kenneth city and Vienna Township have been using mail-in ballots for 10 years. Kenneth has only 27 registered voters, and in a good year, about half that number of voters participate.
Costs for hosting an election can add up, considering ballot printing, purchasing mandatory electronic equipment, providing an approved handicap-accessible location and hiring election judges.
Kenneth and Vienna Township have a proud history of strong voter participation, but even in a good year, hosting an election site for only a dozen or so voters is too costly to make sense.
So, back in 2006 those two precincts, along with several others, decided to mail ballots to their voters. That was the year the federal Help America Vote Act required all precincts to meet specific handicapped-accessibility codes.
Along with the new requirements were $5,000 voting machines that were designed to make voting easier and detect errors on ballots — allowing voters to correct them.
This cost was a deciding factor for many precincts that switched to mail-in ballots.
At first, these included the townships of Battle Plain, Denver and Vienna along with the cities of Jasper (Rock County portion) and Kenneth.
Joining them this year were the cities of Hardwick and Magnolia and the townships of Beaver Creek, Kanaranzi, Magnolia, Luverne (both precincts) and Mound.
Not only do the mail ballots save money, they improve voter participation.
In the November 2014 election, voter participation doubled with mail balloting versus the traditional polling place option.
According to Kurtz, voter turnout in Rock County in the 2014 election was 7.5 percent overall. In the five mail ballot precincts, participation ranged from 12 to 20 percent.
Many voters say they like receiving their ballots in the privacy of their homes where they can take their time contemplating choices and researching candidates or issues at their leisure.
Further, it’s convenient to not have to physically drive to a polling station, sometimes in poor weather, on a designated day that may not be convenient.
 
Forty-three Rock County ballots uncounted
The mail-in voting process isn’t foolproof, though, and Kurtz said she’ll make some changes in the next round of mailed ballots.
For one thing, 43 mailed ballots weren’t counted in the Aug. 9 primary because they arrived in the mail too late.
It’s unclear whether the postal service is somehow to blame for delayed delivery, but Kurtz said she’ll provide a firmer warning — maybe on brightly colored paper — about mail deadlines.
Mail ballot precincts receive letters from the auditor’s office 14 to 46 days before the election, so Kurtz said voters must accept responsibility for returning their ballots on time.
Information with mailed ballots clearly instructs voters to mail back their ballots at least a week prior to Election Day in order to allow adequate time for postal delivery.
And there’s an option to track ballots as they make their way to the courthouse.
“If it looks like your ballot won’t make it in time, you can come to the courthouse and vote,” she said.
There isn’t a chance the duplicate ballot will also be counted, because the voter’s information is recorded.
Kurtz said she’ll try to make the return mail instructions even bolder and clearer for the Nov. 8 general election.
Ballots can be mailed back or dropped off in person to the Rock County Courthouse. Mail ballots are counted only after the polling places close on Election Day.
Some critics of mail voting question the security of mailed ballots.
“Who’s in charge of picking up the mail at the post office? Can we trust that person?” said Boyenga, who lost his bid for re-election in a tie vote in a district that uses mostly mail ballots.
“I’m not saying I’m opposed to mail ballots; I’m just saying there’s risk to it. Any time you use the mail, it opens the door for monkey business.”
By statute the late ballots must remain sealed, so it’s unknown whether those votes could have influenced the outcome of Boyenga’s tie with Darrel Van Aartsen in the District 3 commissioner race.
(See the related story about how that tie was broken.)

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