5,500 of 9,600 ballots will be absentee

Election workers might benefit by bringing along some extra reading material when reporting for duty this fall. Polling booths are likely to be lonely outposts as interest in absentee ballots continues to climb.

As of Aug. 30, more than half of the voters in San Juan County had been issued absentee ballots. And when the Elections Office opened after Labor Day, it was flooded with calls for more.

“We’ve already had 23 more requests this morning,” Elections Supervisor Sandy Baxter said minutes before the clock struck noon on Tuesday. “At this rate, I expect we’ll issue about 5,500 absentee ballots out of the 9,600 registered voters.”

Absentee ballots are growing in popularity for a variety of reasons, Baxter said, but it basically boils down to convenience. Voting by mail accommodates the busy schedules of working families, those with travel plans that conflict with election dates, students who are away at college, and registered voters who live outside the area, she said.

Veteran poll-worker Libby Blackwell of Orcas Island said it also allows voters to leisurely study election guides with their ballot in hand. Blackwell said benefits of voting by mail are undeniable and has witnessed its popularity soar during a dozen years of work at the ballot box.

However, while polling sites may lack convenience, they have the benefit of tradition, Blackwell said. Many voters are convinced casting ballots behind the curtain in the public arena is the essence of an election, she said.

“There are those people who just love going to the polls and who feel very strongly that’s how voting should be done,” Blackwell said. “Some people would love to vote at the polls but have scheduling conflicts and an absentee ballot absolutely guarantees that their vote will count.”

Though the interest in voting by mail has increased and convenience is a leading factor, it has also led to delays in calculating election results, Baxter said. She expects about 50 percent of absentee ballots issued will return during the final three days before the election and several days following its conclusion. Last year, the final count of absentee ballots made two tight elections even closer, she said.

“It was the second run-through of absentee ballots where it was determined the races were a dead tie,” she said of elections for Friday Harbor Town Council and the San Juan Island School Board.

Elections staff members are issuing absentee ballots for the Sept. 17 primary election. It’s a process they’ll repeat after primary results are tallied and the field of candidates is trimmed for the Nov. 5 general election.

“And then we’ll do it all over again,” Baxter said.

Absentee ballots can be dropped off at polling sites and added to the ballot box, but they must be signed, sealed and delivered inside the official blue envelopes that are issued with ballots. They are tallied later at the Elections Office and not at the polling booths. Though absentee ballots can be issued up to the day before the election, Baxter recommends filing ballot requests well before the deadline.

“We can’t guarantee the ballot will make it through the mail in time for the close of the election,” she said of last-minute requests. Primary election ballots must be postmarked no later than Sept. 17 to be counted.

Waiting until the last minute to mark or mail an absentee ballot could cost a person their vote, Baxter warned. Dropping an absentee ballot in the local mail on the day of the election or the day before is cutting it close, she added.

“The best thing to do if you still have an absentee ballot on the day of the election is take it to the ballot box and leave it with one of our election workers,” Baxter said. “But do not try to put it in the Accu-Vote machine.”

• email
• letter
• print
• follow