G.I. Northwest rejects mail-in vote

Secretary of State John Gale, Nebraska’s highest ranking election official, said Northwest High School officials may not have good voter turnout for their Nov. 10 special bond election.

“In the hustle and bustle of daily life, single-issue ballots don’t really capture the attention of registered voters,” Gale said.

That’s why both he and Hall County Election Commissioner Dale Baker favored a mail-in election.

Baker met with Northwest officials and encouraged them to use the state-allowed mail-in election. They said no.

Although Baker legally has final say, she honored Northwest’s request to have a traditional precinct election.

“The feeling was that’s the way they’ve always voted out here and we’d have a polling place in every county,” said Northwest Superintendent Bill Mowinkel.

Northwest is holding the Nov. 10 special election to decide whether to issue $6.7 million in bonds for a new middle school. Polling sites will be in Hall County, Merrick County and Howard County, which make up the Northwest school district.

It’s that spread-out district that led Baker to favor the mail-in ballot simply as a way to avoid confusion at the polls.

“When you say Northwest, there’s a lot of people who think just because they live out in northwest (Grand Island) they’ll be eligible to vote,” Baker said. “I think there’s a lot of people out there who think they’re going to be able to vote for it and they’re not.”

Her office will send out polling cards the first week of November as a notification as to who can vote. The school is taking similar steps this week.

“We’ll do the best we can to educate the voters accordingly,” Baker said.

But she also favored the mail-in election for other reasons “ including reduced cost to the taxpayers who pay for the election.

Mail-in elections are less costly to conduct because poll workers aren’t needed. Baker estimated it would cut election expenses in half.

Gale likes the mail-in election for a single-ballot measure because it virtually guarantees access to all eligible voters.

That access is key to a truly democratic and representative process, he said, but can be hampered with special elections that fall on more unfamiliar or unplanned times than voters expect.

“There have been special election school issues in Grand Island that have been decided by 11 percent turnout,” Gale said. “That’s not a broad base. It doesn’t help bind the community together.”

Just as Baker was concerned about confusion at the polls, Mowinkel said he’s concerned about confusion created by a mail-in ballot.

“The key to our election is getting the information to the people, not just sending out a blank ballot and them wondering what it’s for,” Mowinkel said. “That was our biggest concern.”

That’s why a group gathered at Northwest Wednesday night to stuff envelopes for about 3,000 potential voters, inviting them to any of five information sessions about the bond.

“We want to get the people out and informed,” Mowinkel said.

The sessions, all beginning at 7 p.m., will be at St. Libory Oct. 13, Cedar Hollow Oct. 15, Northwest Oct. 19, Chapman Oct. 22 and 1-R Oct. 26

The sessions will cover the purpose of the election, the pluses, the cost, and a question-and-answer session addressing issues such as busing, impact on elementary attendance centers and why the middle school is to be built on the high school site.

“What would they base their vote on? I don’t know how anybody would vote if they don’t have any information,” Mowinkel said. “A lot of them will get ballots and they won’t know what they’re for. This way we’ll get the information in their hands and they’ll have the information.”

Gale applauded the school district for its efforts to inform the electorate, but again cautioned about getting a representative turnout for a special election.

Research conducted by his office shows that since 2008, voter turnout for special elections “ particularly in rural areas “ has risen dramatically when a mail-in ballot is used.

“It can be up an average of 35 percent to as much as 60 to 65 percent,” Gale said.

He also noted that political subdivisions and bond companies have shown a reluctance toward the mail-in ballot due to a perceived likelihood of the issue failing.

His office’s research shows that special elections have been as successful, if not more so, with a greater number of voters participating.

Gale attributes that to astute voters who study the matter. Most special elections involve taxes “ a sales tax, a levy override “ and voters take the matters seriously, he said.

When asked whether having a traditional precinct election was a “strategy” toward voter turnout, Mowinkel said no.

“I don’t know that it’s so much a strategy as it’s just the way tradition has been here,” Mowinkel said. “I don’t know that there’s any strategy in there whatsoever. We just wanted to make sure the information got out.”

The mailings from Northwest should arrive at voters’ homes Friday or Saturday. Those who don’t get one should call the school, he said.

“If you mail something out to them, are they going to be more informed or if they have to come to a presentation to be informed?” Mowinkel asked. “I don’t know what the turnout is going to be.”

Gale doesn’t know what turnout will be either, but he said the trend his office has noticed is a higher turnout by mail for special elections. Busy voters don’t have to be inconvenienced to go to the polls for a single matter, he said.

“It’s better to have a broad base of public participation when voting,” Gale said. “If there’s extra low voter participation, you don’t get that community bond and the community vision.

“Low voter turnout is not a true test of democracy,” Gale said.

Those who aren’t registered voters have until Oct. 27 to register in order to vote in the Nov. 10 special election.