The Metropolitan King County Council today voted to make King County the largest local jurisdiction in the nation to conduct all elections by mail, once the infrastructure and management are in place to accomplish it, and appropriated $1,635,446 to initiate the transition. Read an Acrobat PDF of the final Ordinance 15523, as adopted.

“Today’s decision is the beginning of the process for moving to vote-by-mail — not the end — and we have much preparation work ahead to ensure a smooth transition,” said Council Chair Larry Phillips. “This Council has taken more than a dozen legislative actions over the last three years to reform and improve the performance of our Elections Section. We have engaged our citizens to advise us and make meaningful recommendations, and we have brought in independent national experts. These citizens and experts have identified moving to a consolidated vote-by-mail system as a high-priority action that would allow King County to continue improving the security and effectiveness of our elections operations — the first steps to ensuring voter trust.”

“This move to vote-by-mail will increase voter participation in the election process,” said Councilmember Bob Ferguson. “That being said, we must hire a new leadership team in the Elections Section, approve a plan for regional voting centers, and complete all necessary systems before we implement all-mail balloting.”

“It is long past time that the largest county in the state move to an all vote-by-mail system,” said Councilmember Julia Patterson. “More than 60 percent of voters already cast their ballots by mail and the number continues to increase every year. In the last general election, more than 80 percent of voters in my district chose a mail ballot. King County must recognize the will of the people and move to an all-mail system to minimize human error and achieve a seamless voting system.”

The legislation approved by the Council directs the Elections Section to begin the process to implement all-mail elections, once it meets three specific requirements:

• Appointment and confirmation of both a Director of Records, Elections and Licensing Services and a Superintendent of Elections.

• Completion of the cultural change and management training recommended by the Council’s Citizens Elections Oversight Committee and Executive’s Independent Task Force on Elections.

• Council approval of an Executive plan for all-mail elections that includes cost estimates, locations, and security measures for regional voting centers and ballot drop boxes.

• Creation of an electronic tracking system to enable voters to go online to follow the movement of their ballots from King County to the voter and back for counting and crediting the voter for voting.

“The Council is confident the Elections Section will make a smooth transition to all-mail voting that will only further increase our citizens’ civic engagement in major decisions that are being made at all levels of our government,” said Councilmember Larry Gossett.

“Thirty-four of 39 Washington counties have already moved to vote-by-mail, and the vast majority of King County’s voters already use mail ballots,” said Councilmember Dow Constantine. “This legislation responds to this larger trend, while maintaining opportunities for in-person voting.”

Nearly 60 percent of the registered voters in King County are permanent absentee voters, and 81 percent of voters in the 2005 primary used a mail ballot. The current system requires 528 polling locations and close to 4,000 poll workers for a countywide election, plus a full-scale mail ballot processing operation and facility. The Council’s Citizens’ Elections Oversight Committee (CEOC) recommended moving to an all-mail ballot to streamline the election system, as did representatives of The Election Center in testimony to the Council on March 6. The CEOC’s 2006 report stated that, “Running two separate elections processes (poll voting and mail voting) increases the likelihood of breaches in security and of human errors. As the public holds the Elections Section more accountable, there is a related responsibility to simplify the inherently complex election process.”

The state Legislature in 2005 gave counties the authority to conduct elections by mail. Thirty-four of the state’s 39 counties have made the decision to conduct all-mail elections.

Read an Acrobat PDF of the final Ordinance 15523, as adopted.