June 21, 2011

Special meeting

General functions
November 8, 2011 Election - "All Mail in Ballot" or Traditional
The Sunnyside District will hold an election Nov. 8, 2011 to fill a vacant Governing Board seat. Resolutions calling for bond and override elections will be presented to the Governing Board June 28 for possible action by the Board. The Board will also decide if the election will be all mail-in or have traditional polling places. Another option is to have an all-mail ballot plus a certain number of sites open for voters to either turn in their ballots or request a replacement ballot.

Chris Roads, Pima County Deputy Recorder & Registrar of Voters, presented information to the Board. He said that SUSD’s last election was in May 2007, when the voter turnout was 3%. Of the approximately 600 votes cast, almost 81% were polling place ballots. At that time, most voters voted at polling places. In 2007, the Arizona Legislature enacted the Permanent Early Voting List (PEVL). Previously, voters had to request early ballots for every election. Voters on the PEVL receive an early ballot for every election. More than 50% of voters in Maricopa and 49% of Pima County voters  are on the PEVL.

The Recorder’s Office has seen a dramatic increase in voter turnout since enactment of the Permanent Early Voting List. In November 2009, The City of Tucson and six school districts held elections. Voter turnout ranged from 21% in Sahuarita to 33% in TUSD. For TUSD, 63% of votes cast came by mail; 84% of Amphi ballots, 75% of Catalina Foothills and 68% of Vail ballots came by mail. In the election for governor, 63% of all votes cast were by mail.

In SUSD, approximately 12,000 of 26,000 voters are on the Permanent Early Voting List. If the district holds a traditional polling place election, 12,000 voters will still get their ballots by mail.

This year, SUSD’s election will coincide with an election for the City of Tucson. The city’s election will be all-mail. More than 18,000 of SUSD’s voters reside in the city of Tucson. If SUSD’s election is at polling places, voters not on the PEVL will have to go to a polling place just for the SUSD election.

All jurisdictions that have had all-mail ballots have seen steep increases in voter turnout. Costs are almost equal. The cost for all-mail for SUSD would be $2,000 more than a polling place election - $92,000 for polling place, $94,000 for all mail-in.
 
It is extremely easy to sign up for the PEVL. By law, there must be a minimum of one polling place. The Pima County Recorder automatically designates its downtown site as a replacement ballot site beginning the first day of early voting. In SUSD, the Recorder’s Office has a site at 6550 S. Country Club Road where ballots are tabulated; it would cost SUSD nothing to have that site as a replacement ballot site.
If the district chooses to add additional sites, Mr. Roads suggests doing so for one day on Election Day. By law, the sites cannot be staffed by school district employees; they would have to be staffed by Recorder’s Office employees. Sites would be set up exactly like walk-in voting sites and would be open from 8 a.m. till 7 p.m. on Election Day.

Each mail-in ballot is sealed and signed by the voter. Signatures are checked. If signatures don’t match, the Recorder’s Office calls, writes and sometimes visits the voter.

At polls, voters must show an ID. The reality is that a significant number of people who vote at polls do not show ID – they just need to show two utility bills. It is extremely difficult to forge a signature for mail-in ballots.  People who check signatures receive forensics training.

The Recorder’s Office has never run beyond the Wednesday following Election Day in tabulating mail-in ballots. There is no provisional ballot for all mail-in. Mr. Roads said that an all-mail election will have higher turnout and virtually no additional cost. Voters seem to like it better as indicated by higher turnout. People who vote by mail are more likely to vote no than yes. PEVL voters tend to be older and more conservative. Since the PEVL has come in, the Recorder’s Office has seen that voters who go to polls tend to vote yes more. The reality, Mr. Roads said, is that PEVL voters vote, while people at polling places have to get there and show ID that matches the address on record. In an all-mail election, there is exactly the same treatment for all voters – the same convenience. Postage is paid both ways – it costs voters nothing to vote by mail.

In the last election, of 12,000 PEVLs in SUSD, 11,000 returned ballots.

Mr. Roads recommended that if SUSD does an all-mail election, it should mail out ballots on the first possible date, which is 26 days before the date they’re due.

The Pima County Recorder’s Office regularly tests addresses. Each year for the past three years, it has tested every single address in Pima County twice a year. When having an election, another test is done before the election. There is an average of 8 to 10% bad addresses. Replacement sites are linked to the database in order to update records and be able to distribute ballots.

The Recorder’s Office can send a notice to everyone to notify them of the all-mail election. With all mail-in, there is essentially a longer election time. SUSD would be the first school district in Pima County to do all mail-in.

If the election is all-mail and additional replacement sites are designated, voters could vote at any replacement site instead of only at their assigned polling places as in a traditional election. The cost is about $300 to $400 per site. The Recorder’s Office would also designate a replacement site that would be available for 26 days.

Ballots as well as instructions go out in English and Spanish. Translation is available for Tohono O’odham and Pascua Yaqui.

In 2007, 3% of registered voters in SUSD determined the outcome of the election. Mail-in ballots have had more impact on increasing voter turnout than anything else.

The Governing Board took action to approve an all-mail election Nov. 8, 2011 with an additional six polling places on Election Day.