Next Tuesday, February 9th, when ballots are due for the special election, don’t head down to the Ballard Neighborhood Service Center (5604 22nd Ave NW) to drop off your ballot like in the past (shown below). There will be no drop box.
Because of the tight budget, drop boxes in all but two locations have been eliminated. “King County had to make some hard choices to balance the 2010 operating budget,” King County Elections Director Sherril Huff said. “This included cuts to all departments in services that citizens want and depend on. As a cost savings measure, Elections was asked to reduce the number of ballot drop boxes as well as the operational hours of accessible voting centers.”
If you want to drop your ballot off in person, you’ll need to go to the King County Administration Office at 500 4th Ave (shown above) or the King County Elections headquarters at 9010 East Marginal Way S, Tukwila. King County also has three accessible voting locations, one at Union Station (401 S. Jackson St) which will be open Monday, February 8: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Tuesday, February 9: 7 a.m. – 8 p.m.
A first class stamp will allow you to mail your ballot in, but don’t forget to have it postmarked by Feb. 9th to count. (Here’s the voters’ guide in case you’ve misplaced yours .pdf)
“This included cuts to all departments in services that citizens want and depend on. “
Well, DUH! You never cut the crap we'd never notice, do you?
Cut your fat ass pay and benefits! We'd never notice that!
Cut your fat ass staff and office spaces. We'd never notice that!
Nope, you cut the stuff that we notice, make us suffer, so you can extract more money from us. Fat asses.
Really?? What was the cost of having the drop boxes and what are they saving? Did they publish that data?
If they really need to save some money how about temporary halting or modifying King County's 1% for Art program? (And the City's and the State's as well.) If we have to pick between dental care for poor kids and publicly funded art at Waste Treatment Plants –I'm really hard pressed to support tax payer funded art until we're out of the budget crunch.
If they were serious about saving money, maybe we wouldn't go through the damn expense of a February election that only has two issues on it (for my district). What a waste.
I'd also like to know how much this will save. Was it really THAT expensive to have a drop box?
I agree with most of what you're saying except for the part about this change being a way for King County to extract more money from us.
How will having to mail in your ballot put any money in King County's coffers?
Last time I checked, first class postage was a source of revenue for the United States Postal Service, which is overseen by the Federal government, not King County.
The cost of the ballot boxes is more than just the cost of putting a box in a building.
Other costs include transporting the ballots that have been collected, and providing security for these ballots and those who are transporting them.
I agree that there would seem, at first glance, to be better ways for King County to save money. However, I think there is a little more to the cost of maintaining ballot drop boxes than one would think.
My point remains. They only choose to cut items that directly affect us.
Postage won't flow directly to them, but don't deny for a moment that they are hoping that this, and other all too public 'takings' will encourage passage of the next tax proposal.
Fat asses.
I can't wait for November.
“this, and other all too public 'takings' will encourage passage of the next tax proposal” So you're saying that when a government organization cuts services to help cut costs that voters will then be more likely to vote yes on a tax increase? Huh?
Remember, we're talking about the King County Elections department, not King County as a whole. KCE was only asked to look for ways to reduce *their department's* cost of operations.
They weren't asked to, nor would they even have the power to impose cost cutting measures in any other King County department or division. They run elections, period. Eliminating polling stations cut costs so it makes perfect sense that eliminating drop boxes would also cut costs.
Instead of criticizing an organization that has succesffully reduced their operating costs without adversely impacting their overall purpose and mission (the electoral process), why don't you propose some ways that they could save more money? Not King County as a whole, just the King County Elections department which is who this is about.
Ahhhhhhhhh
Poll tax
“this, and other all too public 'takings' will encourage passage of the next tax proposal”
So you're saying that when a government organization cuts services to help cut costs that voters will then be more likely to vote yes on a tax increase? Huh?
Remember, we're talking about the King County Elections department, not King County as a whole. KCE was only asked to look for ways to reduce *their department's* cost of operations.
They weren't asked to, nor would they even have the power to impose cost cutting measures in any other King County department or division. They run elections, period. Eliminating polling stations cut costs so it makes perfect sense that eliminating drop boxes would also cut costs.
Instead of criticizing an organization that has succesffully reduced their operating costs without adversely impacting their overall purpose and mission (the electoral process), why don't you propose some ways that they could save more money? Not King County as a whole, just the King County Elections department which is who this is about.
Don’t you get the feeling that Republicans are just obstructionists with nothing positive to add to society?
Isn't next Tuesday Feb 2nd?
lol, so, what would you recognize as a contribution then?
Sometimes the best thing one can do is to get squarely in the way.
Especially now.
To gobigblue, I get it. This just so happens to be isolated.
Nothing to do with amputated feet, or hiking trails.
This is Seattle, you can't break wind here without putting it to a vote so every idiotic voice can be heard.
Our county is getting dangerously close to re-enacting a modern day Poll Tax.
who sends the directive to kce? that's how i read it. someone is above kce.
Poll Tax?
Ridiculous. A poll tax is something that is widely recognized a method used historically to disenfranchise the poor and minorities by making it more difficult for them to be able to vote.
Switching to an all-mail ballot system and now eliminating drop boxes means that all you have to do is drop your ballot in a mailbox, or even just leave it in your own mailbox for the mailman to pick up when he delivers your mail to your house.
No longer is one required to get to a polling station, which for some might require taking time off from work and losing wages or having to find and pay for transportation.
Making it easier for people to vote is completely contradictory to the concept of a poll tax.
And BTW, poll taxes are something that is pretty much universally associated with conservative political parties.
right…and that someone told KCE to find ways to cut KCE's costs, which they did, without compromising KCE's purpose…
while continuing to line their (exec's) pockets so to speak.
People in this freaking area get just what they deserve. Just f-ing keep pulling that “D” lever jackasses. DMV's are gone. Libraries are constantly used as leverage. This GD state is 2.6 or more billion in debt. And some here blame Republicans? WTF? In all this diversity name any running anything? Democrats are all about control. They just love all of this bitching and moaning as it gives 'em yet more ideas to “fix things”. The more a government does for you the more it does TO you. I could give a bleep about this. I'm a rugged individual that can handle what they dish. Freaking whiners.
The problem is that too many people here believe in direct democracy. We shouldn't have to have general elections for school funding and the like. But then you have the Tim Eyemans who rip out all the funding that comes through the legislature.
We live in a republic so that we can have specialists who are focused on these issues (i.e., legislators) but then we get in the way with initiatives.
And remember, the last election when the box was full? If you have to empty it a few times, that adds to the cost. Or pay to change the box itself.
Yes, annoying, but when the tax base gets eaten away through initiative meddling, this is the kind of fall0ut us working- and middle-class folks see. Just think what the poor folks suffer.
Whoa, I didn't realize that Tim Eyeman was a D.
All of the United States are affected by the national economy and some are the 'red' states too. I think the Republicans are terrible at managing things and the constant blabbing about lowering taxes is total BS. Taxes were lowered under Bush and jobs still went to China- so much for reinvesting money here at home.
This is an awful decision. We were opposed to making mail-in voting the only method and the drop box was the only thing that made it OK from our standpoint. Now that option is essentially being taken away. This is a terrible, terrible decision. They need to figure out some other cuts to make. I've written letters to both Dow Constantine and to the election commissioner and I'd encourage others to also express themselves.
Actually, I think going to vote by mail actually *increased* costs because of the extra staff, machinery, and rent for more election office space.
xy
Ok, several b.s. options going on here.
A mother bird pretending to have a broken wing, type of thing.
( look we're sOo hurting … we can't do the job)
… when you'll notice that is.
Curious about what they are doing the other times, like counting up and spending our taxes?
Are they inept in that also ?
…Or we don't need your vote or don't care about your vote or want it.
Takes ONE person to drive to your neighborhood and open up a box shovel some envelopes into a bag at 12:01am and drop them off securely … this is too difficult for these guys ? Have to hope they grasp the use of a key and a lock but ab0ve that fine.
Hell , give a few days off before .Ok two person security, so two.
It isn't anything about a D or R , it's persons just going what they're employed to do.
Should hire twice as many and cut all the staff of the dept. pay them half of what it is now.. I think. Couldn't be less incompetent.
Alot of people need jobs, guessing these present ones don't deserve one, anymore.
I mail-in btw.
It costs me 44 cents to vote. That is a tax douchebag
douchebag?
thanks for such a mature, intelligent contribution to the dialog
it's only a poll tax if it's collected by the municipality who runs the election
the united states postal service doesn't run king county elections
what extra staff and machinery and office space? they'd have to count the votes regardless of whether they were made at a polling station or mailed into their office
On top of the inconvenience of losing a drop box here in Ballard I took our ballots downtown to the drop box on 4th Avenue and it could not possibly be in a worse location. The entire block in front of the drop box is a bus zone and also a construction area. With no place to park, even close, I ended up parking four blocks away and had to pay. Just to vote. Voting should be free.
I'm sorry, but what's so hard about mailing your ballot? Am I missing something?
Rather than a single ballot sheet as for the in-person voting, the mail-in ballots involve an outer envelope, an inner envelope, and the ballot itself. These all need to be stored securely in a tamper-proof location until counted, so extra storage space is needed that was not required for precinct voting.
With precinct voting, volunteers/low-paid day workers ensured votes were tallied as the ballots were deposited in the precinct machines spread throughout the city; now, centralized high-throughput machines, staff to run them, and a fair amount of office space are needed.
With mail-in voting, signature verification is performed on every ballot envelope; this was not done for precinct voting. Signature verification requires additional staff, machines, and floor space to do the verification. It's actually the most time-consuming and expensive part of the vote-counting process.
The election office has to pay for postage to mail ballots to voters; this was not necessary with precinct voting.
Not hard. But . . . I don't like a number of things about the situation. Among them, concerns about the chain of custody and the general ability to guarantee the process. I don't consider dropping a government ballot into a mailbox to have the same sense of assurance as when the responsibility is entirely under the management of the elections agency. Now, they've more-or-less taken away our option to avoid using the US mail.
Here's what I got back from the county exec. Obviously they don't understand our concerns and don't consider it important to provide those of us that have issues with vote-by-mail with alternatives. I don't get any sense that it was a “difficult decision”.
I wonder what the $141,000 looks like in comparison with the total budget for elections?
———————————————————–
Thank you for your message on January 26, 2010, regarding the closing of King County neighborhood ballot drop boxes. I understand your concerns and would like to address the decisions made around this issue.
The elimination of King County neighborhood ballot drop boxes was a very difficult decision finalized by the King County Council in the 2009 budget. This cost saving measure resulted in $141,000 in savings with the elimination of all but two ballot drop box locations.
Ballot Drop Box Locations:
Seattle, King County Administrative Building, 500 Fourth Avenue, 98104
Tukwila, King County Elections Headquarters, 9010 East Marginal Way S, 98108
Voting Centers- ballots can be dropped off during business hours:
Seattle, Union Station, 401 S. Jackson St, Seattle, 98104
Bellevue City Hall, 450 110th Avenue NE, Bellevue, 98009
Tukwila, King County Elections, 9010 East Marginal Way S, 98108
The neighborhood ballot boxes were first constructed for convenience to help assist voters during the transformation to a complete ‘vote by mail’ process in King County. The Elections Office was asked by the King County Council and King County Executive ways to reduce non-mandatory services. At this time, King County is essentially in the process of eliminating non-mandatory functions in order to preserve mandatory operations of King County services. Ballot drop boxes are a non-mandatory function of King County Elections. Weighing the benefits and costs of services, the decision to eliminate most ballot drop boxes was made.
Thank you again for expressing your concerns with the elimination of the King County ballot drop box locations. I hope you recognize the difficult decision that was made with much reluctance by the King County Council.
Sincerely,
Dow Constantine
King County Executive
If you do use the US mail, there are a number of safeguards in place: secured mailboxes, return address on the envelope, your pull-off tab on the ballot. The US Postal Service takes its responsibility very seriously: ever get one of those ripped up pieces of mail? Even though they made a mistake, they make sure you get the bits and pieces. I'd say it's a pretty close to fool-proof system in all.
. . . and if they change the rule from valid if “postmarked by” to “arrives by” that'll further eat away at my confidence.
What's your remedy if you have a reasonable expectation of delivery but for some reason the ballot arrives past the deadline?
Path from voters hand to dept. of elections custody is too complicated when it gets mixed in with the general mail system. Perhaps I'll start using trackable service . . . but that's not more convenient.