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WALKER - Auditor-Treasurer Sharon Anderson informed the Cass County Board Tuesday the number of townships using mail ballots instead of voting at a polling place has increased from 28 townships in 1994 when it was first offered to 39 this year.

She said she expects more towns to go to that option due to the cost of holding elections at a town hall and to the fact some towns have a harder time hiring election judges as existing judges age.

Towns will also have to share the cost to upgrade their voting equipment in the next few years, she said.

There is an option for some towns to join a neighboring town and share a polling place. That will not be an option for some towns, though, Those currently may be surrounded by mail ballot precincts, she noted.

When mail balloting was first offered to townships, there was a requirement that a town had to have 400 or fewer registered voters. Now, any town may opt for mail balloting.

There are benefits and drawbacks, she said.

On the plus side, it is convenient to automatically receive your ballot by mail once you are registered. It gives a voter time to study the ballot before voting and mailing it back, she said.

On the negative side, anyone who fails to get their ballot mailed for delivery at least five days before the election runs the risk their ballot will be thrown out if they make a mistake on following the rules for mail ballots. When you vote in person, the machine instantly rejects your ballot, enabling the voter to correct their mistake and send it back into the vote counting machine, Anderson said.

Interestingly, mail ballot voters tend to vote in significantly larger numbers at primary elections, but a slightly lower percentage than those going to the polling place in November general elections.

Anderson noted a difference between how the state and county figure voter turnout. The state uses a percent of eligible voters, while the county uses a percent of registered voters.

Because there are more people who could be eligible to vote than who actually register to vote, the state's turnout report always will show a lower percentage than the county for voter turnout, Anderson explained.

This year, people in any precinct may begin voting by absentee ballot beginning Sept. 19. Anyone who wants to pre-register to vote in the Nov. 4 election this year must do so by Oct. 14 or wait to register on Election Day at their polling place or, in mail ballot precincts, the courthouse.

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