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Special elections by mail?

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Illinois

* I’m not sure what I think about this…

Chicago and Cook County election officials will ask the state Legislature to allow them to conduct future special elections by mail to save money and increase voter participation.

Even if only 10 percent to 18 percent of the voters are going to turn out for an election, officials have to have enough ballots and staff for a 100 percent turnout.

That means the City of Chicago spent $1.75 million on Tuesday’s special election, or about $33 per vote. Cook County Clerk David Orr spent about $165,000 on Tuesday’s election, or about $30 per vote, he said.

Wow. That was a huge cost per vote.

* More…

Under the proposal, already used in the states of Washington and Oregon, secured drop-off boxes are set up in each neighborhood if voters do not want to send in ballots by mail. The board would also have the option of keeping early voting centers open.

Such a system is feasible, but implementing it would be up to the Illinois General Assembly, rather than the state board, said Ken Menzel, an elections specialist with the Illinois State Board of Elections.

State Rep. Elaine, Nekritz, D-Des Plaines, chairman of the Illinois House Elections Committee, said she could not comment on the proposal before seeing it, but felt the committee would be willing to consider it.

“Anything that can save money and increase voter turnout is worth looking at,” Nekritz said.

What do you think of this idea?

* Related…

* Chicago board wants mail-in special elections

* Chicago Board of Elections Wants Mail-in Voting for Special Elections

* Cook County Clerk on Board with Mail-in Voting Proposal

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Mar 5, 09 @ 8:06 am

Comments

Voting by mail will just make it easier for cemetary residents to vote - LOL.

Comment by tanstaafl Thursday, Mar 5, 09 @ 8:34 am
I’m sure that Cook and Chicago officials can be trusted to run an honest and corruption free election by mail. They have never done any hanky-panky in the past and I’m sure they would never do anything odd in the future.

Comment by just me Thursday, Mar 5, 09 @ 8:36 am
The very thought of this idea takes my breath away. The opportunities for corruption here are so vast.

Comment by Cinho Thursday, Mar 5, 09 @ 8:40 am
How will a mail-in election work in Chicago?

Why not cut out the middle man and send the ballots to the committeeman’s office?

In Cicero last month, the mayor had his armed gunmen at the polls. The mayor had students bussed (on school district buses) from the high school to do election work.

The Cicero example is just one of many that the Cook County State’s Attorney has no interest in prosecuting political corruption, including violations of election law.

Until I hear ward bosses complaining about the Cook County State’s Attorney hassling them unmercifully about absentee ballot abuse, it’s absurd to have Chicago vote by mail.

The city has a strong tradition of election fraud. And the prosecutor’s office virtually always finds an excuse not to investigate/prosecute when allegations are made that political insiders have violated election law.

The Chicago Board of Elections knows these things. The Chicago Board of Elections knows mail-in voting will be abused. But these abuses will favor the candidates the Chicago Board of Elections wants elected.

Comment by Carl Nyberg Thursday, Mar 5, 09 @ 8:43 am
Any voting system has downsides. Vote by mail has huge upside though - increased participation and much lower cost. The question is how do Oregon and Washington prevent fraud. Luckily, Google exists so we can find the answers.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40032-2004Dec31.html

Comment by State Sen. Clay Davis Thursday, Mar 5, 09 @ 8:45 am
Mail in voting carries risks as mentioned above. Perhaps there is a technological way to reduce this. This is probably many years off due to the need to develop and perfect the process. High upfront costs would eventually be offset by reducing costs once the system is up and running. I don’t think it is feasible right now. Especially in Cook County/Chicago.

Comment by dupage dan Thursday, Mar 5, 09 @ 8:47 am
What Carl said. It’s not just the city - downstate county have, at various times, been notorious for election irregularities. How do we know who actually voted the ballot. This is a boon for democrats voting the homeless. It is a boon for church goers voting at church. (Don’t just think black south side churchs-I’m fine with that). It potentially takes much of the privacy out of the voting process while removing the transparency.

RWP

Comment by RWP Thursday, Mar 5, 09 @ 8:51 am
I have a crazy idea, what if we did this: “signature verification of every voter before a ballot is counted is an effective safeguard against fraud.” /thanks Sen. Davis

Vote by mail seems like a great idea. you just need more staff to process the ballots to check sigantures on the ballots. If you wanted to get fancy, you could do a fingerprint ID like they do now for many entrance exams.

Comment by Ghost Thursday, Mar 5, 09 @ 9:05 am
This is Illinois!

You don’t give car keys to a drunk, and you don’t let Illinois politicians create a vote-by-mail system!

Stupid!

Comment by VanillaMan Thursday, Mar 5, 09 @ 9:06 am
I think that this is a good idea.

Comment by Chanson Thursday, Mar 5, 09 @ 9:07 am
I wish we could.

The opportunities for fraud are mind boggling. I can see boxes of ballots going to all the nursing homes with instructions to ‘help’ the residents…….

Comment by Plutocrat03 Thursday, Mar 5, 09 @ 9:18 am
I thought of the fingerprint idea as well but civil rights people will complain about that since you will have to keep fingerprints on record and people are wary of that. Signature cards may work but unless you can be certain that someone is not just forging same with dead people voting twice it is a problem.

Thank you, Senator Davis, for that article. Illinois shoul look closely at those programs already in place. No need to re-invent things. Higher turn out and lower costs. Will you be sponsering a bill soon?

Comment by dupage dan Thursday, Mar 5, 09 @ 9:28 am
I don’t see it. Too easy to beat. Vote fraud is grand tradition throughout Illinois (not just Cook).

I think a human being should have to show up and pull a lever or use the absentee process. How hard is that, anyway? Seniors are always the highest percentage of participants.

I don’t cry about those who are too lazy to vote. I guess they’re too busy complaining about politicians and taxes.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Mar 5, 09 @ 9:40 am
Oregon has had great success with vote by mail. Turnout is not much different, but everyone likes it. And although the two states have very different reputations for election integrity, I don’t see how fraud would be more likely in one regime than the other.

Comment by Greg Thursday, Mar 5, 09 @ 9:42 am
Let’s move into the 21st century people. Those interested in committing fraud will always find a way to do so.

We should make this happen. The sooner, the better.

Comment by Pot calling kettle Thursday, Mar 5, 09 @ 9:44 am
I’ve worked both in Portland and in Denver in all-mail elections, and there are hardly any cases of electoral or voting fraud, vote tampering, etc. It is also more efficient, though the costs on media on the part of the election commission (notices in the mail regarding deadlines, drop-sites, instructions)are significantly higher than normal, in-person voting. But I think it’s a smart move and the wave of the future!

Comment by beth Thursday, Mar 5, 09 @ 9:47 am
The mail is 21st Century?

We’re all assuming that increasing voter turnout is a good thing. I’m going to take the unpopular stance and say it’s NOT a good thing. The voter should at least have some knowledge and interest in the election, at least enough to make them get off their fat but to go to the polls. Further encouraging a lazy voting population is only a bad thing. Voting is the odd combination of being both a privilege and a right, and the act shouldn’t be relegated to the junk mail pile.

Comment by Anon Thursday, Mar 5, 09 @ 9:52 am
The only thing that would prevent rampant voter fraud under this proposed system is that you would be dealing with the postal system here in Chicago, which was called the worst in the nation not too long ago by the Postmaster General himself. In fact, the Chicago Post Office might still be under the USPS version of “double secret probation” were it not for the overrriding Postal Service directive of always kissing up to whoever is residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

I’d much rather have to battle the corruption here in town than try to depend on timely delivery of all the ballots in an election by the Postal Service.

Comment by fedup dem Thursday, Mar 5, 09 @ 10:07 am
I say it is worth a try on this limited basis. The proposal is limited to special elections on a single issue. The impact of any voter fraud would be limited. I am intrigued as to what sort of “safeguards” that Mr. Neal has in mind. I do worry about ballots from certain addresses being discarded by the political postal worker. Still, it is worth pursuing as a trial balloon just for special elections. For the record, I would be opposed if it was used for general elections at this time.

Comment by Jake from Elwood Thursday, Mar 5, 09 @ 10:08 am
Until the Cook County State’s Attorney does her/his job and prosecutes the existing criminal conduct around elections, I will vehemently oppose vote-by-mail.

If current violations of election law aren’t being prosecuted, why throw the door wide open to election fraud?

Here’s a deal I’ll make with the Dem Machine on vote-by-mail. If the Greens, independent Democrats and Republicans all get a person that can bring indictments for crimes pertaining to elections, campaign financing, etc. then I’ll be OK with vote-by-mail.

But if the bottleneck to holding people accountable is a Machine Democrat, like Anita Alvarez, Dick Divine, Richard M. Daley, etc. then there’s no jeopardy to Machine commmitteemen engaging in election fraud.

Comment by Carl Nyberg Thursday, Mar 5, 09 @ 10:50 am
Let’s not blame this on the process. Let’s place blame first on the candidates and their handlers and on the public.

What this gets down to is the process of voter canvassing which uses public records so that each candidates can determine the likely voters, what ballots they drew in the last seven primaries, and whether they were likely to vote in the general. The latter are unknown, although a good ward/precinct organization can pre and post election estimate who voted for whom.

The rest of the electorate is generally ignored. It costs to much to energize them, although issued oriented candidates try.

And then we have the registered voters list which is woefully out of date. I had to use it to get a favorable change in regulations on my tavern. The sample was everybody within 500 feet who were served with certified letters, I had a 50% undeliverable rate.

By mail, the block guy will go to every residence and “help” the registered voter fill out his ballot, take it with him and mail it himself (if the right candidate was voted for.)

The proof of the pudding will come in the special general when the Rahmster will have energized the Democrat Campaign Committee using his White House phone. Tons o’money, pounds of literature will be sent into the District, and gale force the precinct/ward will be urged to push Mike Quigley and save the seat for Rahm.

Comment by Truthful James Thursday, Mar 5, 09 @ 11:03 am
We just did a first class mailing to residents of a ward I am helping a friend get elected to of a city on the North Shore.

15% of them came back as “moved.” We used the clerk’s voting list for the November 2008 election.

I can’t see “mail in ballots” working with this kind of suburban turnover, let alone Chicago turnovers. Ultimately the integrity of the ballot box would be an issue in every election.

Comment by Louis G. Atsaves Thursday, Mar 5, 09 @ 11:19 am
RWP - the homeless have every right to vote. You don’t have to have an address to vote, you just have to be a citizen and you have to register.

A thumbprint system would be a good way to prevent fraud issues. When you register, your thumbprint is taken (just one thumb, just one print). That’s loaded into the system along with the rest of your information. The ballot package would include 2 pieces of paper - one is your ballot (which is folded and sealed prior to mailing to protect the privacy of your ballot), the other is a card where you press your thumb into a space where an impression is made.

When the ballot package is sent in to the board of elections, an employee opens the package, and runs your thumbprint through a reader, which performs an automated match (think CSI). No personal information is displayed.

If the thumbprint is not matched or if the system identifies the print as already having been matched, the ballot is invalidated, and the employee takes the ballot package and files it away in the case of future litigation (perhaps the still sealed ballot and the card are stamped with an identification number).

If the thumbprint matches, the thumbprint card is filed away and the (still sealed) ballot is forwarded for counting.

It works out to be a more advanced version of the purple ink stained finger that is so common in other democracies to indicate if someone has voted.

Comment by jerry 101 Thursday, Mar 5, 09 @ 1:27 pm
Poll watching in the 36th ward on Tuesday for an also-ran, I was hugely impressed by the political apparatus at work. Voters entering the school gym were greeted by their respective precinct captains. No, the political workers were not wearing Board of Elections badges or handling the voting materials. But they were sitting at tables right up front, checking lists (completely legit), barely distinguishable from the judges. Really put my home ward organization’s operation to shame.

But after being handed a blank ballot, each voter walked over to a little carrel before inking in an arrow. (Too few of them for my guy. Oh, well.)

The insurmountable problem with voting by mail is loss of voter privacy. As I mark and sign my ballot, who is watching over my shoulder, twisting my wrist or greasing my palm? A candidate or committeeman? Or maybe an angry, powerful spouse or parent?

All the voter roll and ballot security problems likely could be worked out. I don’t doubt Oregonians are happy with their system. But this isn’t Oregon.

Comment by Ivory-billed Woodpecker Thursday, Mar 5, 09 @ 1:38 pm
Actually vote by mail is the most secure way to run an election. The fewest number of people touch the ballot this way. Most of the West Coast has been doing this for years and it has dramatically boosted voter participation and saved the taxpayers millions. We should be talking about all elections moving to a mail ballot option. If you are really worried about election fraud get rid of the Chicago Board of Elections and combine its operations with the better run county board.

Comment by Laborguy Thursday, Mar 5, 09 @ 3:15 pm
No thanks. I went to direct deposit because my neighbors brought [and continue to bring] my mail to me…. including my paycheck. Almost daily I re-deliver other people’s mail that I receive. Electronic billing/pay now because of all the lost/missing mail.

Comment by North of I-80 Thursday, Mar 5, 09 @ 3:40 pm
RWP

Jerry 101

=the homeless have every right to vote. You don’t have to have an address to vote, you just have to be a citizen and you have to register=

My point wasn’t that the homeless don’t have a right to vote. My point is that they are extremely susceptible to being “helped” or coerced.

RWP

Comment by RWP Thursday, Mar 5, 09 @ 3:57 pm