HomeMy WebLinkAboutR-2003-099 Primary by mail ballot ( Election for Council Positions 1, 2, 3, & 4 )RESOLUTION NO. R-2003-99
A RESOLUTION authorizing and approving the Yakima County Auditor to conduct the
September 16, 2003 Primary by mail ballot.
WHEREAS, conducting the September 16, 2003 Primary will reduce the cost of
conducting the Primary; and
WHEREAS, previous mail ballot elections have Increased voter turnout; and
WHEREAS, vote by mail for the Primary election will provide updated registration
information for the County Auditor; now, therefore
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF YAKIMA:
1. That the City Council of the City of Yakima does hereby authorize and approve
that the Primary to occur on September 16, 2003, be conducted totally by mail ballot; and
2. That a copy of this resolution shall be filed with the Yakima County Auditor.
ADOPTED BY THE CITY COUNCIL this 15th of July, 2003.
Malace, Mayor
ATTEST:
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City Clerk
RESOLUTION re Primary Ballot by Mail/ms
Yakima County Auditor
TO: Karen Roberts, Clerk
City of Yakima
Corky Mattingly, Auditor
Lynda Sissom, Assistant Auditor
FROM: Corky Mattingly, Yakima County Auditor
DATE: July 8, 2003
RE: Conducting September 16th Primary By Mail Ballot
My office is seeking to conduct the 2003 September Primary totally by mail ballot. In
order to conduct the Primary by mail ballot, my office needs the support of every city
or town that will have a ballot measure or an elective candidate race on the Primary
ballot. Each city or town will need to pass a resolution giving their permission that
the Primary be conducted totally by mail ballot before I can proceed.
Each jurisdiction in the County, including yours, has the option of placing ballot
measures on the Primary ballot. As regards to candidate races, in order to have a
candidate race appear on the Primary ballot, three or more candidates must file for an
open office. Because the filing period does not occur until the last week in July, we do
not know which races will qualify to appear in the Primary. At this point in time, we
also do not know which, if any, jurisdictions have plans to place a measure on the
Primary ballot. By the time we know which jurisdictions will have an issue or race on
the Primary ballot, we will probably have less than one week to have those cities and
towns pass a resolution calling for a mail ballot Primary. Because some councils meet
only once or twice per month, this may not be possible. If even one city fails to pass
a resolution asking that their Primary be by mail ballot, we will be required to conduct
the Primary as a polling place election. Because of this timing, if you support
conducting the Primary by mail ballot, we recommend that you consider passing a
resolution to this effect as soon as possible. To facilitate this, I have included a draft
vote by mail resolution, which you may consider using.
I am very supportive of conducting the Primary by mail ballot for three main reasons.
Approximately 80% of the voters who do vote in the Primary will be absentee voters.
Most of the polling places will be virtually empty on election day. The second reason
is the cost savings we will have by using the mail ballot process. We anticipate that
there will be a 7 to 10% cost savings by not using polling places for the Primary. The
third reason is the ability to use the registration information generated by a mail
ballot election to clean up the voter registration file. This is something we are
required to do every two years by federal law. By combining it with the conduct of
the Primary, we can save the considerable cost of doing it as a special project. These
special project costs would normally be included with voter registration costs annually
prorated out to the County as well as the cities and towns in Yakima County.
128 North Second Street • Room 117 • Yakima, Washington 98901 • (509) 574-1400 • FAX (509) 574-1341
Accounting
574-1310
Administration
574-1402
Electrons License Payroll Recording
574-1340 574-1370 574-1392 574-1330
The Primary is the only election this fail where we can use this voting method. This is
an opportunity to make the dollars spent on elections more cost effective for our
citizens. We would be glad to attend a meeting of your council or board to further
discuss this.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please contact me at 574-1405,
or Diana Soules, Election Manager at 574-1343.
BUSINESS OF THE CITY COUNCIL
YAKIMA, WASHINGTON
AGENDA STATEMENT
Item No * / D
For Meeting Of 7/15/03
ITEM TITLE. Consideration of Resolution Authorizing the County to Conduct the
September 16, 2003 Primary by Mail Ballot
SUBMITTED BY: Glenn Rice, Assistant City Manager
CONTACT PERSON/TELEPHONE: Karen Roberts/575-6037
SUMMARY EXPLANATION.
The Yakima County Auditor is seeking to conduct the 2003 September Primary totally
by mail ballot. In order to conduct the Primary by mail ballot, every city or town that will
have a ballot measure or an elective candidate race on the Primary ballot must support
the Primary by mail ballot election.
The County Auditor supports the Primary by mail ballot election for the following three
reasons
• Approximately 80% of the voter who do vote in the Primary will be absentee
voters and most of the poling places will be empty on election day
• Cost savings of 7 to 10% by not using polling places for the Primary
• Provides ability to use the registration information generated by a mail ballot to
clean up the voter registration file
The City would only have an issue on the Primary ballot in the event that three or more
candidates file for the same council position.
Resolution _X_ Ordinance _ Contract _ Other (Specify)
Funding Source
APPROVED FOR SUBMITTAL: ` `�
City Manager
STAFF RECOMMENDATION: This is a Council policy issue
BOARD/COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION:
COUNCIL ACTION: