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Photo by Bob Pennell Elections worker Dave Foley sorts absentee ballots at the Jackson County Courthouse. Election workers say they favor vote-by-mail to polls By PAUL FATTIG For each of the past 30 years, Betty Bowers has eagerly anticipated the democratic frenzy that is Election Day. The temporary worker at the Jackson County elections office, who also has worked at Medford polling places, relishes the excitement of watching from a front-row seat as political candidates huff across the finish line. But she says she won't have any regrets if Measure 60 passes today, closing the door on the polls at grange halls and schools and opening the way for vote-by-mail for all future elections. "No, I won't miss that a bit," said Bowers, 65. "It's great deal of work for us to have the polling places and absentee ballots both. We'll still be working, but it won't be the load we're carrying now." While that may seem a surprising sentiment from a longtime election day worker, it appears to be almost universally shared by her co-workers, who say the long hours and the quantity of absentee ballots have turned the vote count into an ordeal. Bowers, the absentee ballot chairwoman of the county elections board, started out working at the Howard Elementary School polling site three decades ago. The Medford native already has worked three weeks preparing for today's election. "After this election day is over, I'll be putting in 10- to 11-hour days for three days," she said, noting that the absentee ballots must be counted by midnight Friday. "After that, I'll be working normal eight-hour days for a week, then I'll be done," she said, adding, "It's a lot of work, but I still love it." While their workload will be reduced if Measure 60 passes, it won't do away with the need for all the temporary election day workers, said Jackson County Elections Clerk Kathy Beckett. "We simply couldn't do the job without them," she said. "They are on the front lines." But passage of the measure will reduce the army of temporary workers needed now, she said. "We wouldn't have to hire the hundreds and hundreds of people we'll be hiring (for today's election)," she said. "The elections board won't go away -- it would just eliminate the need for as many people as we use now." Instead of costing an estimated $180,000, the 1998 general election would have cost Jackson County taxpayers about $50,000 if it had been vote-by-mail, she said. Depending on the election, two dozen or so temporary workers would still be needed to work out of the election headquarters each election, Beckett said. Medford resident A. Peterson, 81, election board chairwoman of Precinct 61, which includes the Rogue Valley Manor, won't regret seeing the end of the traditional polling places. "I'm all for it," she said. "No way will I miss those long election days of 14 hours or more." While Oregon earned a reputation as being progressive with its successful measures such as the Bottle Bill, it lost ground when it began allowing permanent voters to vote absentee, said Peterson, who was reared in the Rogue Valley. After working on local elections in Medford in the 1950s, she later joined an elections board in Washington, D.C., when her late husband, Gene Peterson, worked there. "In the 1964 election, I was 33 hours without going to bed," she said. "I won't miss those days at all." Betty Bayliss, 74, of Medford, who has worked in local precincts as well as the election headquarters for some 20 years, agreed. "I won't be at all sad if it (Measure 60) passes," she said. "I think it's time for a change. The vote-by-mail process is definitely a lot more efficient." Yet Bayliss looks forward to each election. "I like being part of the system," she said. "It's a good feeling." Ruch resident Dottie Chachere, 69, who works beside Bayliss supervising the process of preparing ballots for the computer each election, says she, too, won't be saddened by the end of polling places in Oregon. "So many people like to go to the polls but it's really a little too expensive for the county," she said. "You have to do what is most efficient. "But even if it (Measure 60) passes, they will still need some of us around," she added. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA