By WIN GRUENING
Voting last week in Juneau’s “rolling” municipal election seemed more like a chore that needed to get done instead of the patriotic civic-minded custom I was taught to revere.
When the Juneau Assembly ditched a tried-and-true voting system to opt for vote-by-mail, it robbed voters of the opportunity to come together in our neighborhood precincts to collectively take part in democracy.
It’s been a short and slippery slope.
First came the pandemic. We were told we couldn’t gather in enclosed spaces, once a year, even for a few minutes, to greet our neighbors, mark our ballot, and personally insert it in the vote-counting machine. This apparently wasn’t as important as going to liquor stores or bars – all of which remained open 365 days a year.
But we complied. In 2020, the Assembly told us vote-by-mail (VBM) was only temporary, implying that once the emergency was over, we could return to in-person voting. Then, this year, with little fanfare, despite the vastly increased cost and citizen opposition, the Assembly decreed VBM permanent for all future Juneau municipal elections.
City leaders have continued to insist that VBM makes voting more convenient, guarantees that every vote is counted, and increases voter turnout.
Regrettably, that has not been borne out by the facts.
Afte receiving my ballot packet in the mail and opening it, I found a ballot, a security sleeve, a return envelope, and two pages of instructions on how to fill out my ballot, sign it, verify my identity, insert my ballot in the sleeve and envelope, seal it, apply postage, and then deliver it to the proper place. Inadvertently omitting some of these steps runs the risk of your ballot being invalidated.
There’s also a warning in bold red letters that your ballot must be postmarked on or before election day when mailed. In Juneau’s 2021’s election, almost 8% of ballots were invalidated for various reasons, 352 of them for missing postmarks.
For that reason, city officials have cautioned people concerned about this to personally take their ballot to the post office to have it postmarked. Other non-mail options include using drop boxes in Auke Bay or Douglas and dropping off your ballot or voting in person at either the Mendenhall Valley Public Library or City Hall.
None of the alternative options offered are more convenient than traditional voting in your local precinct on election day. Considering all the extra pieces of paper and steps involved, VBM is actually less reliable since mistakes may happen that would easily be caught by helpful poll workers in a traditional in-person election.
Furthermore, voter turnout has not increased. Except for the 43% voter turnout in 2020, when VBM was a novelty, turnout the last two years has been virtually identical to the 31% who voted in 2019, our last traditional election.
So why were taxpayers stuck with a bill for $1 million establishing a system with an annual cost that is several hundred thousand dollars more than in-person voting?
27,767 ballots will be printed and mailed to Juneau voters this year. Barely a third of those will be returned.
Voters visiting the post office are greeted with scores of unused ballots thrown in waste receptacles and left on desk stands. How does that teach new voters the value of voting and what does it say about the regard we have for the most critical duty we have in our democracy?
Moreover, when voting in-person now, your ballot isn’t as private. Regardless of how you deliver your VBM signed ballot envelope, ultimately it is handled by many people with your identity still attached before being counted. You no longer have the option of marking a secret ballot in a voting booth and having it anonymously counted by machine while you watch.
Changing election day to whenever you want to vote, coupled with the loss of privacy, and sometimes waiting days or weeks for conclusive results, undermines the transparency of elections and diminishes the ritual and importance of voting.
On a positive note, Juneau Mayor Beth Weldon and Assemblyman Wade Bryson voted against the change to VBM this year.
Weldon said she “tolerated” vote-by-mail during the pandemic but thought it’s important for people to all come together on one day to vote. “I feel that Election Day is kind of sacred,” she said. “By voting by mail, I think we’ve taken some of the emphasis off of how wonderful it is to go out and vote.”
When the new Juneau Assembly is seated, its most important item of business should be to restore the trust and respect our electoral process deserves.
After retiring as the senior vice president in charge of business banking for Key Bank in Alaska, Win Gruening became a regular opinion page columnist for the Juneau Empire. He was born and raised in Juneau and graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1970. He is involved in various local and statewide organizations.
With this faux junta, vote by mail isn’t going anywhere. We have to learn to use it better than the left does.
Once we start beating them at their own game, VBM goes faster than rancid meat.
People created government to secure birthrights. (Bill of) Rights came first . We are a republic capitalist, confederate union. A league of friendship. Capitalist because I contract for my own labor.
I always enjoy going to the poll on election day, seeing & chatting with neighbors & friends, even if there is a line.
I agree! One more activity that united us, even if we voted differently!
I was always interested in this election’s I voted sticker. I’ve been running a collection since 2014.
My favorite remains the raven with the I voted under his wing.
Schemes are not laws. WE dictate. Our rivhts are not dictated by public servants. We have the right ti speak, politically. We dictate (state) our rights. Our rights are free from seisure in this republic form of government. If rivbts are seized it is a common law trespass. Art. I laid down rights in every state.
We go purposefully to our polling place or not. Per the US Constitution. You do not confiscate our rights regarding voting and redistribute new schemes, postal schemes. Where did you get the right to trespass and confiscate and redistribute as you wish our rights?
Explain the Annotated Constitution Virginia Plan attributed to Madison. States are protected from internal abuse why public servants turn on we the people and our will. Political suits (not judicial) can be handled by the people’s executive if the legislative branch won’t assemble. Luther v Borden. We cannot pay them to trespass our rights. Ignorance of the law is no excuse. We can demand specific performance.
Election Day is called Election Day for a reason. Vote on Election Day. Tighten the process Statewide legislatively to make voting in person on Election Day the default once again, mandatory, with few exceptions. Make it a requirement that one needs to apply for an absentee ballot. It’s a matter of personal priorities. If it’s too onerous a process, then don’t vote.
CBJ overlords and minions have grown accustomed to abusing power. It’s time for the people to take it back. Can an initiative be started to roll the system back to the way it was pre-Covid? Please!?!?!
During our last election I got a letter saying my ballot needed further verification to be counted. I had one day to get it in. I’m thinking not everyone got this letter, probably depended on how you voted.
“City leaders have continued to insist that VBM makes voting more convenient, guarantees that every vote is counted, and increases voter turnout.”
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There is only one, of those three reasons that is even remotely valid. Convenience. And, that is the main problem with mail in voting. It is convenient..
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First of all, I do not want more people voting. I want more INFORMED people voting. Mail in voting may get more ballots returned. (or that is the fantasy) However, do the votes actually reflect that of a voter who is interested and up to date on local politics? Or are they just voting for the person with the most signs, or the person currently in the seat, or the one with the catchiest radio ad? And, yes, I know that happens with in-person voting as well. But, how many people who have no interest in local politics will bother to take the time to vote in person, versus filling in a form and dropping it in the mail?
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Finally, there is nothing secure about mail in voting. In fact, it opens up too many potential avenues for abuse. At a time when people are questioning the security of elections, it is stupid to implement a system of voting that has more potential security flaws and avenues to commit fraud.
Does Vote-by Mail work? About as well as hackable electronic voting machines! Getting rid of one without getting rid of the other isn’t going to get us back to fair and honest elections.
VBM and VBM help the Left. Otherwise we wouldn’t have them.
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