Voter turnout could be improved by going postal

It's not that Utahns are politically uninterested. They love to talk politics. They leave hundreds of comments on political stories published on deseretnews.com. They fill up our e-mail box, and some still send snail mail to the newspaper's Readers' Forum on the subject.

But that interest does not translate into going to the polls, which is disappointing. It means that special-interest politics can carry the day when mainstream voters cannot be bothered to vote.

By the most generous estimate, voter turnout in Utah's last election was a paltry 13 percent. That was the primary election in June, during which Republican voters picked between Mike Lee and Tim Bridgewater for U.S. Senate candidate and Democrats in the 2nd Congressional District could vote for incumbent Jim Matheson or educator Claudia Wright. In case you missed it, Lee and Matheson won their respective races.

Is our lousy voter turnout due to timing? I tend to believe that a lot of people who are ordinarily engaged check out mentally during summer months. Maybe it's because our households are more chaotic once school starts, but I tend to believe there's an uptick in civic engagement during the months that school is in session. Seemingly, moving Utah's primary election back to September would encourage greater participation.

But maybe it's not timing. Perhaps it's our method of voting. Perhaps it is time to dispense with the cost of operating polling places and vote exclusively by mail.

In 1998, Oregonians voted by a 2-1 ratio to make voting by mail permanent for all elections. The measure passed in all 36 counties.

Voter turnout has soared ever since. Voter turnout that dropped below 10 percent in some local elections is now routinely 40 to 50 percent.

Administrative costs per ballot there have dropped from $1.81 per voter in 1998 to $1.05 in January.

Oregon certainly makes it convenient. Ballots are mailed to registered voters' homes 14 to 18 days before Election Day. After marking his or her ballot, a voter signs the enclosed envelope and returns it to the county election office by mail, in person or at an official drop site that does not require postage.

Once it is received, election workers scan the envelope bar code, and forensics experts compare the voter's signature to the signature on file in the state voter database. If the signature doesn't match, the voter must explain why.

A week before the election, officials scan ballots by computer, but results cannot be accessed before 8 p.m. on Election Day.