This election, faced with a 143-page voter information guide featuring 12 statewide propositions and a 15-page supplemental guide -- which some voter-education experts have dubbed "practically impenetrable" -- many California residents relish being able to mark their ballots in phases at home, saving the most difficult issues for last.
Oregon led the way to the mailbox, doing away entirely with its polling places in 2000, after the passage of a voter initiative in 1998. Washington state is nearing 100% vote-by-mail.
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.
The Oregon voting experience now includes voter-invented traditions such as "trick or vote" night on Halloween and voting parties at churches. Yet some lament the disappearance of the polling place as a fundamental, communal democratic ritual.
"I do admit some sort of nostalgia for the polling place," said Paul Gronke, director of the Early Voting Information Center.
"I've seen wonderful ones in people's garages with basketball hoops and snacks, where people wander in and they're talking and it's really special," he said. "I saw that in Orange County and in Riverside and in Los Angeles. I'm still not convinced we haven't lost something if we completely do away with those."
Elections officials have a love-hate relationship with the trend, saying it allows them to process a large number of ballots ahead of time, but requires more resources.
The state's 58 county registrars are divided over whether California should vote solely by mail, a move that would require legislative approval.
"Will California move in that direction in the near future? No way, the Legislature won't stand for it," said Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder Stephen Weir, who asked lawmakers for permission to hold the primary election in his county by mail, and was turned down. "The only way it would move that way would be a voter-initiated initiative."
The trend is also changing the way political campaigns are run, requiring operatives to spend more money to reach voters earlier. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton won the California primary on Feb. 5 largely because of a massive drive to convince older women to vote by mail, pundits said.
After the upcoming election, which is expected to break voting records, registrars expect more debate on voting methods.
"I would like to see some way to reduce the number of polling places," in precincts where a large number of voters are permanently signed up to vote by mail, said Joe Holland, Santa Barbara County's clerk, recorder and assessor. "Eventually you can see with this trend that something is going to have to give."
