Borough does not recommend voting-by-mail election; normal absentee process to remain in place

As local municipalities around the state are opting for mail-in ballot elections, for local elections in Kodiak this fall, however, the Kodiak Island Borough does not recommend an entire mail-in ballot election.  Borough Deputy Clerk Alise Rice presented to the assembly why a mail-in ballot election is not feasible for Kodiak.

Unless a resident requests an absentee mail-in ballot, and unless borough code is revised, Kodiakans will need to vote in-person at their polling site this October.

Rice cited several reasons for not implementing a ballot by mail election.

One reason is the cost of printing multiple ballots for different elections, including borough-wide and service-area ballots.

“The other couple of reasons why I would say that this is not a good idea is we will be looking at printing two borough ballots: one for English and one for Tagalog. Because we have such a diverse community, we want to be sure that we’re meeting those needs and adhering by those special things in our community. So you’re looking at two borough ballots and then you’re also looking at service area ballots. We have five ballots for the service areas. So then you’re also looking at ensuring that your borough ballot and your service area ballot go to the correct voter, so then that’s another intricacy within that. We’re looking at three ballots, and then you also have a city ballot that’s going to be going out, so that’s four ballots.”

The complexity of providing multiple ballots for different service areas is compounded with the logistics of printing the ballots and special envelopes. Many Alaska municipalities share the same printer for printing ballots and envelopes, so a mass move to ballot-by-mail, Rice argues, would put undue burden on the printer.

“When you start looking at, you have your regular people who normally do it, we ask for our ballots, and then you’re also bringing in Mat-Su and Anchorage and other municipalities that are now asking for these special ballots to be printed, special envelopes to be printed. It’s going to put a pretty good burden on that printer. So it’s something that in the clerk’s office that I’m going to be staying in close contact with Printworks to ensure they’ll be able to meet our needs for our typical or normal printing for the elections.”

The question of providing mail-in ballots for all voters has been raised throughout the state, as municipalities look for ways to reduce the number of large gatherings of people to mitigate against the COVID-19 pandemic.

In March, the Alaska legislature passed a bill authorizing the Lieutenant Gov. to initiate a process for statewide mail-in ballot election.

In a May 15 announcement, though, Lt. Gov. Meyer indicated that using that authority is not necessary, that the state will follow its usual election process. Lt. Gov. Meyer did state that the Division of Elections, which the Alaska Lt. Gov. is charged with leading, will be prepared with mitigation plans for Election Day.

Following Anchorage’s lead as the first major municipality to have entire mail-in ballot elections, other municipalities around the state have developed their own process.  Examples.

At this time, Kodiak Island Borough, which in its past election saw a voter turnout of only 15%, is recommending no move to a fully mail-in ballot election, even though studies show that mail-in elections increase democratic participation.

According to the MIT Election lab, increasing voting-by-mail, or VBM, options for voters increases turnout by at least 10%.  VBM brings “marginal voters into the electorate and by retaining voters who might otherwise drop out of the electorate. “

The borough has already seen an increase in requests for absentee mail-in ballots.

“By-mail applications, we’re at 17 so far, which probably does not seem like very many, but at this time last year we had none. Our total count was 35 last year for the entire election, for absentee-by-mail ballot. So that will help ease the amount of people coming in person to vote during the election.”

As Rice noted, state election officials are counting on that increase in absentee mail-in ballots to decrease the number of voters who vote at their polling sites, thereby decreasing the risk of further COVID-19 outbreaks during election season this fall.

Kodiak residents wishing to vote by mail will need to request and return absentee mail-in ballot by September 29 to the borough clerk’s office.