Opting for the convenience of their kitchen table over a neighbor's garage, nearly half of Californians are expected to cast their votes by mail rather than at a polling site on Nov. 4, marking a milestone shift in the practice of democracy, elections officials said.
At least 40% of the state's registered voters already have decided they want to vote by mail, according to data compiled Friday by the California Assn. of Clerks and Elected Officials. The percentage is expected to grow as Tuesday's deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot approaches.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday, October 29, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 59 words Type of Material: Correction
Voting by mail: A chart in Monday's Section A explaining how to ensure that one's mail-in ballot is counted stated that the ballot must be accompanied by the signed secrecy sleeve so the registrar can confirm the signature is valid; it should have said the envelope the ballot is returned in needs to be signed, not the security sleeve.
California isn't the only state where voters are eschewing a trip to the polls. A majority of voters prefer their mailbox over the ballot box in Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado, according to the Early Voting Information Center at Reed College in Portland, Ore.
Twenty-eight states allow residents to vote by mail without the excuse -- sickness, disability, being out of town -- that traditional absentee ballots have required.
Retired newscaster Dan Avey of Studio City voted as soon as his ballot arrived earlier this month.
"If I were truly undecided about some issue, I would wait until election day," said Avey, who marked his choices in the quiet of his dining room three weeks ago. "Now I don't have to pay attention to the flood of ads and last-minute attacks. I can tune the election out."
Los Angeles County -- the nation's largest single voting district -- has the state's lowest mail-in voting bloc, with 20.6% of registered voters. Dean Logan, the county's registrar-recorder, attributes the lower percentage to a more complicated ballot than those in other counties. He said that Angelenos tend to enjoy their neighborhood polling places, but some experts said the county does not publicize mail-in options as much as others do.
Even so, Logan said, the county has registered 32% more people to vote by mail than it did in 2004 and will issue the state's highest number of vote-by-mail ballots before Nov. 4.
Northern California counties have among the highest percentage of mail-in voters in the state: Mendocino at 74.3%, Santa Clara at 68.6%, Marin at 59.9%. So far, San Francisco has registered 40.6%.
The increasing popularity of voting by mail in California and elsewhere has prompted some election experts to question whether convenience should trump concerns about ballot secrecy, fraud and the complications of processing mail-in ballots. The growing debate is leading some registrars and voting-rights advocates to call for a renewed discussion about how far the state should go to promote voting by mail.
