AgdaPkt 2015-05-18 Closed and Joint SA and PFA

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7.1.D. - Page 10 experimented with all vote-by-mail elections for a two-year period, finding that they halved their traditional election expenditures while increasing voter turnout. By 1993 they had gone from a turnout 6-8 percent below California's average to 6.8 percent above it as compared to the 1993 statewide special election. However, there was no way to look at turnout increase by party affiliation since the 1993 special election was a non- candidate election and party affiliation data was not tabulated.8 Oregon was the first state to move towards the implementation of a statewide all vote- by-mail system. In 1995 it became the first state to hold an all vote-by-mail federal primary and in 1998 Oregon voters passed Ballot Measure 60, making it the first state to require that all future elections be conducted by mail. Still, voters are able to drop off ballots at officially designated locations. The measure has substantially reduced the cost of conducting elections in Oregon while simultaneously increasing time available to tally votes. In 2011 with the passage of Senate Bill 5124, Washington became the next, and only other, state to hold all vote-by-mail elections. It replaced a 2005 law that allowed counties to choose whether to conduct solely vote-by-mail elections or provide both absentee ballots and polling places.9 In the year previous, the state found that 90% of 7 Both Stanislaus County and Placer counties were approved for a pilot project.However,Placer did not utilize the project while Stanislaus did. 8 Harris,Rachel. "Voting-By-Mail:A Look at Modernizing the Electoral System."California State Library.California Research Bureau,July 1999.Web. 15 Nov.2013.<http://www.library.ca.gov/crb/99/notes/v6n3.pdf>. 9 Schmidt,Katie."Washington to shift to all vote-by-mail elections."The News Tribune.The News Tribune,5 Apr. 2011.Web. 14 Nov.2013. 4