Does Mail-In Balloting Restrict Voting Rights?

The use of mail-in ballots has grown rapidly in California in recent years, and analysts predict it could hit a record in 2008, the International Herald Tribune reports.

In 2000, about one-fourth of the ballots cast in California in the presidential election came by mail. That grew to 33 percent in 2004. This year, analysts and campaign officials say it could be more than half.

Some 4 million voters in the state are enrolled as "permanent absentee voters," meaning early ballots for the primaries will automatically go to their homes.

At the same time, in the name of efficiency and cost savings, California's move to greater voting by mail has also caused an additional consequence: counties have reduced the number of polling places, stretching the distance to the polls for some voters.

Take Napa County for example. More than forty percent of the Napa County polling places used in the 2004 presidential election are history.

Does this consequence restrict voting rights? The Napa Valley Register doesn't think so. In an editorial, it said:

"In November, Registrar of Voters John Tuteur sent out letters informing 12,000 registered voters that their options have been narrowed: They can vote by mail, use a vote-by-mail ballot and drop it off at the nearest remaining polling place, or come down to the elections office to cast their ballots in person.

Some voters have expressed concern that this shift jeopardizes their voting rights. The convenience of voting down the street from one’s home in Calistoga -- where four of six voting precincts were eliminated, including those at a couple of mobile home parks — has narrowed.

In our view, the decision should not limit voter’s rights in any way. Other areas have seen greater voter participation because of the growing vote-by-mail trend, and we hope to see the same phenomenon here."