Steve Burns
WMAL.com
ROCKVILLE – (WMAL) In a city with a growing population yet a declining voter turnout year after year, city officials are looking at an innovative plan to engage more voters.
A public hearing is planned for Monday evening on a plan to implement mail-in voting in the city, where every city resident would be mailed a ballot prior to Election Day, which can then be filled out and sent back through the mail. At least one traditional voting center would also be kept open. Proponents say the plan decreases Election Day costs, while giving added flexibility to voters that may not be able to make it to a specific location on a busy Tuesday.
“For those who have done this, regardless of where they’re located…they have seen an increase in their turnout,” Lois Neuman of the city’s Board of Supervisors of Elections told the city council last month. “We will save on equipment. We will save on transportation of equipment, on personnel, on the number of people we need to train, on the number of judges we need to have.”
Neuman acknowledged the data is still somewhat fuzzy and no direct comparisons could be made between cities with a similar population to Rockville, thanks to the vast amount of variables that could affect turnout – from voter interest, to the amount of candidates, to ballot questions and even weather.
Rockville is planning on implementing the system in time for the November 2019 elections.
However, mail-in voting was also pitched as a way to keep voter databases accurate.
“People will come in, they will check in, we find out of their address is correct or incorrect,” Neuman said. “If there’s a problem with the ballot they could come in and we would take care of it right there.”
Ballots filled out in-person would be treated the same, submitted in an identical envelope and put into the same system, she said.
While some city councilmembers were supportive of the idea, at least one proposed asking city residents about mail-in voting through a referendum. Another urged a study after the 2019 elections into how the option changed voting habits among different demographics.
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