2005 PRESS RELEASES

July 12, 2005

EFF lauds Pierce County decision on vote-by-mail

(Olympia) – The Evergreen Freedom Foundation (EFF) today commended Pierce County for its decision to stop the drive to an all vote-by-mail system in Washington state.

“Vote by mail is an open invitation to fraud, it sacrifices security and integrity of the ballot for convenience and it doesn’t increase voter turnout,” EFF President Bob Williams said. “A complete vote by mail system allows people to register under many different names with almost no chance of getting caught and opens the door for the kinds of voter registration schemes in mental health institutions and elsewhere that we saw in Washington last year and that have landed some people in jail in other states.”

Pierce County’s Mail-In Voting Advisory Task Force voted unanimously Friday against placing a nonbinding question on the ballot this fall asking voters if they’d like to do away with almost all poll voting.

Pierce County auditor Pat McCarthy told the task force it would have cost taxpayers $263,000 more to conduct the 2004 election if it had been conducted entirely by mail.

“I think it is terrific that Pierce County called a time out to think through this rush toward all-mail voting,” Williams said.

“It would have been easy to join the bandwagon eliminating most polling places and replacing them with an all-mail system, but these officials recognize many of the so-called advantages of an all-mail system don’t hold much water,” he said.

Williams pointed out that many of the problems in King County during the 2004 election cycle were directly related to absentee ballots. Testimony during the Governor’s election challenge trial in May revealed that elections officials essentially made up a final absentee vote tally for approval by the county’s canvassing board, and trays of uncounted absentee ballots were “found” as late as April, 2005.

According to the Secretary of State’s office, 26 of the state’s 39 counties have decided to go to an all-mail voting system for future elections.

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Additional information:
Vote By Mail Cost Analysis in Pierce County

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