|
VOTING BY MAIL
Fact Sheet
What is Voting by Mail?
| A ballot is automatically mailed to every eligible voter (no request or application is necessary). Three states mail ballots to all eligible voters for every election. In-person voting sites may also be available for voters who would like to vote in-person and to provide additional services to voters. |
Hawaii voters want the convenience of voting by mail.
| In recent years, voters have increasingly opted to vote by mail instead of voting in person at walk-in polling places. In the 2014 general election, absentee ballots were the majority of votes cast. |
It would be more efficient.
| It would be more efficient to focus resources on absentee voting rather than the three different approaches currently used: absentee voting, absentee walk-in voting and election polling place voting. The Office of Elections estimates approximately $800 thousand would be saved in each election cycle by converting to Voting by Mail. This would be a permanent, recurring savings. |
Democracy has benefited in states which use voting by mail.
| Washington, Oregon, and Colorado—the three states that already conduct elections-by-mail—saw marked increases in voter turnout after implementing their mail-in system. Access to the ballot improved in the states, which have not found that holding elections by mail complicates election administration, or leads to increased voter fraud. |
Improved voter education
| Implementing such a system for Hawai’i would mean that voters would have a much longer time with ballots in their hands, giving them ample opportunity to consider issues and candidates and make more informed decisions. |
State and County elections officials support this voting reform.
| Over the 2018-2020 period, the Office of Elections could implement voting-by-mail, building on the already popular absentee and permanent absentee voting programs. |
There is widespread support for this approach in our State legislature.
| In the 2015 and 2016 legislative sessions, a vote by mail bill advanced to conference committee. Leadership in both houses needs a “nudge” to implement what members and the public believe should be done.
|
|
