Grant County goes to all-mail elections

EPHRATA — In the future, the electorate of Grant County won't be exercising their right to vote in a booth at the local precinct. They will be exercising their right to vote from home.

The Grant County Commissioners unanimously approved a proposal Tuesday by Grant County Auditor Bill Varney to eliminate the traditional process of voting at the polls.

Of Washington's 39 counties, Grant County is now the 21st to have switched to running elections completely by mail.

According to Varney, 55 to 60 percent of registered voters in Grant County already vote exclusively by mail.

Now, with the all-mail election, everyone will essentially become absentee voters. They will receive their ballots 20 days prior to elections and will have until election day to mail or drop them off. There would be no polling places, just the new proposed drop-off locations.

In May, Varney proposed a plan to the commissioners that would create five locations in the most populous areas of the county where individuals could turn in their absentee ballots and handicapped people could vote in secret. The county will no longer have the 33 polling places it has paid to staff and maintain in previous elections.

By eliminating 28 polling places, the county would not have to pay for the storage, replacement and transportation of 28 new handicapped voting devices that would be required by the Federal Help America Vote Act starting in January. Having just five such devices would save the county $168,000, Varney's plan estimates.

In the past, the county would pay workers for a full day at precincts that saw only small number of users. In addition, the average age of poll workers in the county is 75, and they are getting harder to replace. The cost of having to destroy excess ballots, pay workers and maintain increasingly more expensive equipment at all of these polling stations was a major expense, according to Varney.

Though the new election system has both critics and advocates, there are some things that they all agree on.

"I want you to do what will be the healthiest choice for the Grant County financial future," Ellie Webb, Chairman of the Grant County Democratic Party, wrote in a letter to the commissioners. "I recognize that mail-in voting makes very good economic sense and that we already have several mail-in precincts that are operating well."

"While the (Grant County Republicans) executive committee recognizes and concurs with the importance of saving taxpayer funds and is in agreement that an all vote-by-mail county would indeed accomplish that, we also recognize that other issues — namely protecting election integrity and providing voter choice — must be considered," Tom Dent, Chairman of the Grant County Republicans, wrote in a letter to the commissioners.

"We felt that we needed to do some election reform changes before going to all-mail, to protect the integrity of elections," Dent said after the commissioners made their decision.

However, the commissioners received more support for the project during the public comment period than they did criticism. Twelve of the 15 letters and phone calls received were completely in favor of the change. One other response was in favor of the change, but would have preferred to have a few sites open for voters who want to walk in and vote.

Grant County Commission Chair LeRoy Allison said he considered the importance of maintaining voter rights, limiting the county's cost and liability and maximizing public involvement before making his decision to vote for an all-mail voting system.