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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: i<ou'uL„-- 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: