Sarpy County Election Commissioner Wayne Bena was excited as he counted ballots Tuesday for Gretna’s special election.
The number of Gretna voters casting ballots in the county’s first vote-by-mail election easily outnumbered the Gretna voters who went to the polls for the November general election.
“My job is to do what I can to increase voter turnout,” Bena said, “and with the numbers I am seeing, I am pleased with the results.”
Nearly 50 percent of the registered Gretna voters cast a ballot on the single issue to be decided: whether to divert some of the city’s sales taxes to redevelop the existing Nebraska Crossing Factory Stores. A total of 1,342 voted in favor, and 93 residents voted against.
About 44 percent of Gretna’s registered voters went to the polls for the 2010 general election when several federal, state and local races were decided.
Though it was Sarpy’s first, mail elections aren’t new to other Nebraska counties. Most of those counties have seen greater voter participation and lower costs.
Neal Erickson, Nebraska’s assistant secretary of state for elections, said the method has been allowed since a change in state law in the mid-1990s.
It’s a rather simple process. Voters are mailed the ballot and are given a window of time to fill it in and mail it back. But the mail-only method can be used only to decide special issues, not for elections involving candidates for office, Erickson said.
Cass County has held at least eight all-mail elections and Election Commissioner Nancy Josoff said it’s a more efficient method. She said the average voter turnout at polling places in Cass County is about 21 percent to 25 percent, while the all-mail elections have seen more than 65 percent of voters cast ballots.
Across the state, it’s the same story. According to the Nebraska Secretary of State’s Office, in 2010 the average voter turnout for all-mail elections was nearly 56 percent while the average polling place turnout was 39 percent.
“We’ve found that by getting the ballot into the hands of registered voters, we get a better response,” said Debbie Girard, county clerk and election commissioner in Polk County, which has held three all-mail elections.
“In rural counties there are men who would rather be farming than drive 20 minutes to go vote,” Girard said. “This is convenient.”
She also said all-mail elections eliminate the concerns over getting to a polling place in bad weather and the tasks of finding and training poll workers.
For Sarpy County’s first vote-by-mail election, Bena gave voters the option of depositing ballots in a secure drop box at Gretna City Hall if they didn’t want to affix the $1.05 in postage to mail them. He said the majority of the ballots came from the drop box, which was emptied daily.
Vote-by-mail elections not only cut costs, but also eliminate a lot of wasted time and effort, he said. When only about 20 percent of voters come out to the polls, Bena said, it’s disappointing. The last two Sarpy County special elections had only 29 percent and 4 percent turnouts.
“It’s like you are paying for a party that no on shows up to,” Bena said.
Douglas County Election Commissioner Dave Phipps knows that feeling. He recalled a special election in Waterloo for a school bond issue where he worked at a polling place for 12 hours and only 13 voters showed up.
Phipps prefers the vote-by-mail elections.
“For someone who has to do a whole lot with a little bit of money, all-mail elections really save that cash,” he said. “Poll workers are my biggest expense, so it’s something that we are really in favor of.”
In Sarpy County, Bena said, all-mail elections could become the norm.
As long as the voter turnout is higher, “I am going to continue to do it this way.”
Contact the writer:
402-444-1336, leia.mendoza@owh.com
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