Mail Dents Voter Turnout Election Officials See Major Shift in State Balloting

By Myung Oak Kim

The dismal turnout for the primary election underscores a trend that is changing the face of Colorado elections – mail voting.

While exact figures were not available, clerks in several of the largest metro-area counties estimated that turnout was 5 percent to 10 percent at the most, with less than 10,000 people voting at the polls in those counties.

Election officials predict that the majority of votes cast in the 2008 primary were by mail rather than at the polls on Election Day. That’s a significant shift from 2004, when the highest number of votes were cast on Election Day.

In Douglas County, about 4,000 people voted at the polls, said clerk Jack Arrowsmith. Less than 1,500 people voted early, and about 27,000 people sent in mail ballots.

“The lion’s share of the votes will come in via mail ballot,” he said. “That’s really where the vote is at.”

Arapahoe County Clerk Nancy Doty said she estimated that 5,000 to 6,000 people voted in her county.

Some polling places saw no voters for hours at a time.

“There was very low voter turnout,” said Weld County Clerk Steve Moreno. “It was really a boring day.”

The low voting numbers were good for counties like Denver and Douglas that were using new election systems for the first time. The small voter numbers also did not tax the new statewide voter registration system, known as SCORE. Election officials reported no major glitches with the new voter database.

Douglas County, which had long lines in the November 2006 election, moved from all-electronic voting terminals at vote centers – where voters can cast ballots at any polling site – to combined neighborhood precincts with a choice of paper ballots or electronic machines.

The busiest polling place in the county was at the Wildlife Experience in Parker. And that site never had a line.

By 3:45 p.m. Tuesday, 95 people had voted on the electronic machines, and 13 filled out paper ballots. The 19 poll workers had little to do. Some read books. Others walked around chatting.

Brian Turbitt, of Parker, said he had no problems when he came to cast his votes on an electronic terminal.

“It was all pretty painless,” he said. “It took a couple of minutes.”

Al Bollwerk, the polling site manager, said the low turnout was typical for a primary. He’s worked elections for about 20 years. He said his site was overstaffed, but it was good training for the general election.

Arrowsmith agreed.

“It was a pretty good dress rehearsal for us,” Arrowsmith said.

The November election is expected to draw record turnout because of the presidential race. Mail voting is again expected to constitute a large portion of the votes. But county clerks expect massive turnout at the polls.

The shift toward mail voting in Colorado has already impacted elections, political observers said.

“It changes the political calendar,” said Colorado State University political science professor John Straayer.

“You’ve got to get out there earlier. You can’t do that big last weekend rush, because the results may be in before you get going.”

In past years, political experts believed that mail voters tended to be elderly and unlike election day voters in other ways, he said.

“The difference is shrinking,” he said.

“The electorate that votes by mail is less and less different than the electorate that votes at the voting booth.”

INFOBOX

Shifting primary

In 2004, more than 594,000 voters statewide participated in the primary election The highest number of voters, about 325,000, cast ballots at the polls. About 226,000 voted by mail, and almost 44,000 voted at early voting sites.

This primary is shaping up to be much different.

More than 308,000 voters cast mail ballots, a 36 percent increase from 2004. Meanwhile, the early voting numbers dropped 55 percent, to less than 19,000.

Primary day voting was extremely light. Final numbers were not available, but county clerks predict that election day votes will be much smaller than those cast by mail.

Originally published by Myung Oak Kim, Rocky Mountain News.

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