Chapman University political science Professor Fred Smoller says the county can help address its budget shortfall while spurring voter turnout by shutting down Election Day polling places, and doing all the voting by mail. He has talked with or written county Supervisors John Moorlach, Janet Nguyen and Pat Bates, as well as Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley, pointing out that Oregon is 100-percent mail ballots and in Washington, 37 of 39 counties conduct elections solely by mail.
“It saves (those states) millions of dollars per election, leaves a paper trail, improves voter turnout, and has been well received by voters,” Smoller wrote in a letter to Moorlach chief of staff Mario Mainero.
Kelley has been aggressive with encouraging voluntary mail voting in the county, as it reduces stress on the polling places and allows him to produce more results quickly once the polls close on Election Night. Mail voting has been growing steadily in the county, with 45 percent of all ballots being mailed in for the Nov. 4 election.
UPDATE: The Orange County employees union has just sent this letter to County Executive Officer Tom Mauk, endorsing the vote-by-mail plan. The union estimates the plan would save the county $2 million per election.
Somebody give this man a prize! I’ve never been to an in-person ballot booth–wait, okay only once and that’s because I was bored. I prefer to do mine by mail simply because it’s so much more convenient. Doing it in-person requires me to get dressed (unless I’m already out and about) drive to the nearest location to vote, assuming I knew where that was, then having to wait in a looooong line. Why? If the entire state did it by mail, we could save on having to pay rent to the places we use to do the voting, save money on the volunteers who man these places (they’re volunteers, but they still get paid a good amount), and do away with all the equipment–especially those electronic machines that cost so much.
We should put a vote on this!
I like it.
Think it would increase turnout, especially among the groups that have low walkin to the voting booth turnout.
May chllenge the status quo and the BOS might not like this possibility and might vote against it for this reason.
agreed, it would be much better.
however, I’m irked at the OC employees’ union endorsement. they’ll do whatever they can to keep their nice cushy sit-around-all day jobs with no cuts in positions nor benefits!!
Excellent idea!
This is not only a great way to save county a bit of money, it is also, as joe says, a great way to bring the turnout up. Isn’t what we all want?
Voting at the comfort of own home would give people time to think who they really want vote for.
DO NOT LISTEN TO WHAT BARACK OBAMA SAYS, BUT CAREFULLY WATCH WHAT HE DOES !!!
Barack Obama is the greatest liar in history (no wonder he is an excellent lawyer!) During his campaign, he told lots of hope in future for America if he was elected, but now he warns Americans of oncoming darker economy and not to put too much hope in his promises. He promises a big plan to reduce budget deficit while his inauguration ceremony this January will be the most costly in history (50 millions) as well as his presidential campaign (600 millions), which was much more than his opponent John McCain’s. He swears to clean up Washington DC, but he failed to first clean up his homestate Illinois, one of the most corrupted state with the scandal of Governor Rod Blagojevich, who greatly helped Obama to win his state senate seat in 1996, 1998, and 2002. And his favorite slogan is “Yes, we can”, yet he himself cannot quit smoking at all !!!
One problem with the mail-in vote is that people generally submit their ballots early in the election process and if something negative about a candidate or an initiative is exposed after they mail their ballot they cannot change their vote. And neighborhood vote polling places are good too. Neighbors meet up for a cup of coffee to discuss the issues of the day. It promotes closer neighborhood ties. I do like the paper trail though. I do not trust electronic balloting at all. No doubt the post office would love doing away with the voting polling places. More stamp sales.
@ocobserver
You have the option of delivering a mail-in ballot by hand to a polling place on the day of the election. So if you’re on the fence and worried about a last-minute scandal, you can do that instead of mailing it.