King County to move to vote by mail only

I do have some doubts about this proposal, although there are advantages as well. Here's the details of the announcement:

King County Executive Ron Sims on Tuesday proposed an all-mail voting system for the state's largest county, which came under intense criticism for mistakes made during the 2004 general election.

Sims told county Elections Director Dean Logan to prepare a comprehensive plan and timetable with preferred options for an all vote-by-mail ballot system for the county's 1.2 million registered voters. He set a Jan. 31 deadline for Logan's report.

"Vote by mail is the right direction for our electorate," Sims said in prepared remarks for a Tuesday news conference. "It streamlines the elections process, allows our staff to focus on a single system and it increases voter turnout."

In King County, 55 percent of voters already cast ballots by mail as permanent absentee voters, said Sims' spokeswoman Carolyn Duncan, and more than 70 percent of voters use absentee ballots in any election.

"The trend is there," Duncan said.

With this move, very few of Washington State's voters will still be voting at poll booths. It's interesting: the very concept of Election Day is fading away. It's no longer really the day on which you vote, it's now just the day when the first results get released.

David Goldstein has more here.