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Time to get out a pencil and vote Primary ballots will arrive in the mail, and the county clerk urges voters to take care of the task now By DANI DODGE You know its election season - you've seen the commercials, read the ads, and maybe even shaken some hands. Now it's time to vote. Primary ballots will begin arriving in mailboxes Saturday. Voters should mail them back by May 16, or return them to the county elections department or place in a drop box by May 21 - the date of the election. "Right now we have 106,736 ballots, but we are going to add hundreds of supplemental ballots to that," said Jackson County Clerk Kathy Beckett. "With last-minute registrations, we'll probably ... be up to 110,000 (ballots) before we're done." But before you go marking that ballot with your gubernatorial choice, Beckett asks voters to remember one very important thing: "Pencil, pencil, pencil. " In the November 2000 general election, Jackson County was one of the last counties in the nation to report its presidential vote, and part of the reason was that many people marked their ballots with pen. The county's computers don't read pen, and volunteers had to re-mark each of the ballot choices made in pen with a graphite marker so the computer could read them. "Next to sending your ballot, the most important thing is pencil, pencil pencil," Beckett repeated. Two of the money measures on the ballot - a Rogue Community College bond measure and a police levy in Gold Hill - will require a majority vote to pass, as well as more than 50 percent of the registered voters casting ballots. "(The RCC bond) was endorsed by Jackson County's Republican Central Committee and Democratic Central committee, so we truly do have bipartisan support," said Tom Bradbeer, RCC's dean of human resources. "But, the outcome depends entirely on whether this is a valid election or not, and the law requires a 50 percent turnout to be valid." "It is critical that a majority of registered voters turn in their ballots." And Bradbeer said the sooner the better. "The fact there is a fairly long period through the 21st of May creates additional possibility of ballots being misplaced, lost, or people forgetting about the election," he said. "The best thing is to do is read the ballot pamphlet, and get the ballot marked and return the ballot immediately." Beckett couldn't agree more. When Oregonians started voting by mail, early turnouts were as high as 35 percent in the first few days. But in recent elections, only about 10 to 15 percent of ballots have trickled in the first week. In November 2000, the elections office received 47 percent of the ballots in the last two days. "Obviously we want folks to become informed on the issues and get them back to us as quickly as possible," Beckett said. "Drop sites will be open starting Monday because we are making an attempt to see if we could get those ballots sooner." Ballot drop sites are listed in the voters' pamphlet. But mailing is still the preferred method, Beckett said. This is a closed primary, so only Democrats can vote on Democratic run-offs, and only Republicans can vote in Republican run-offs. In Oregon, parties are allowed to choose whether to have open or closed primaries. Independents and third-party members only get to vote on measures and non-partisan races. "There are some people who come into this area and are surprised we don't have an open primary system in Oregon," Beckett said. "People get very angry over it, until they understand this is the way Oregon does it." Among the contested local races on the ballot are Republican races for Jackson County commissioner, a nonpartisan judicial race, a Democratic run-off in the Second Congressional District, and a Republican contest in state House District 4 that will decide the seat because no Democrat is running in the general election. Among the statewide races are primary elections for governor, superintendent of public instruction and labor commissioner. Beckett said she hopes there will be a good turnout in the election, even though it is a primary because of several high profile races. She also noted that RCC's get-out-the-vote effort is sure to bring in a healthy number of ballots. But remember: pencil, pencil, pencil. Reach reporter Dani Dodge at 776-4471, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.