Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2008

Weighty ballot takes an extra stamp

In Sacramento County, the price of suffrage is just a little more expensive because the ballot is more weighty.

One 42-cent first-class stamp just won't do.

A long ballot has produced a vote-by-mail ballot that weighs slightly more than an ounce. That has prompted election officials to say 59 cents is needed to return a ballot by mail.

Vote-by-mail ballots started showing in mailboxes last week – 266,718 in Sacramento County. That's more than 41 percent of all eligible voters in Sacramento County.

Election Day on Nov. 4 is chock-full of contests: 12 state propositions, a Sacramento mayor's race, bond issues, fire, water and irrigation districts, a Galt City Council race with nine candidates for two seats and innumerable other contests.

All those bond measures, state initiatives, the presidential race and local elections have produced a big ballot, said Sacramento County elections office spokesman Brad Buyse.

Also contributing to a long ballot is that Sacramento County's is in both English and Spanish. Some counties are not required to be in languages other than English.

While Sacramento County mail-in ballots require extra postage, that is not the case in Yolo, Placer and El Dorado counties.

"An ordinary first-class stamp will handle it," said Yolo County Clerk-Recorder Freddie Oakley. "We are blessed to have a manageable-size ballot in Yolo."

In El Dorado County, "we are fortunate enough that everything we have is less than an ounce," said recorder-clerk and registrar of voters William E. Schultz. "They have a ballot and a half in Sacramento County."

In Sacramento County, the 19-inch-long ballot has printing on both sides. A voter simply fills in the bubbles.

"Then put it in the vote-by-mail envelope, make sure you put 59 cents postage on it and drop it in the mail," said Buyse.

Buyse urges voters to mail their ballot no later than Oct. 31 to ensure it arrives by Election Day.

Voters can avoid paying any postage in Sacramento County by dropping the ballot off at polling places Nov. 4.

Even if the postage is not adequate, the Postal Service has instructions to deliver mail to all election offices in the state, Buyse said.

Some voters have gone overboard to make sure their vote gets counted. They place several stamps on their ballots to make sure it gets to registrar Jill LaVine's office, said Buyse.

Voters have until Monday to register to vote.