He stood alone.
Not an ally in sight.
Was City Councilman Jim Clarke surprised he did not attract support from any of his four colleagues on a potential plan for Culver City to adopt all-mail voting?
“I just wanted to discuss the issue,” he said.
“I didn’t necessarily want to…
“A false impression was given that we were going to make a decision on something as important as that in a limited amount of time.”
All 10 members of the audience who spoke on the matter were opposed, making it 14 out of 15.
However, Mr. Clarke still believes voting by mail is a feasible choice, and he set out to make his case.
He believes all-mail voting may be happening in plain sight.
“About 5,000 people vote in a city election,” Mr. Clarke said. “Sixty-three percent of the votes are cast by absentee ballot, primarily permanent absentee ballots.
“On Election Day, therefore, you have 1700 people – from among 26,000 registered voters — going to the polls. That is about 5 percent.
“If it were not for absentee voters, on Election Day you would get a 5 percent turnout. It is absentee voters who get you to 20 percent.”
Mr. Clarke insists there is a “direct correlation” between voting by mail and the total number of ballots cast.
“Because people have taken the time on their own to request a permanent absentee ballot, that does not necessarily mean because we mail ballots to everybody that they are going to vote at the same level as the people who requested the permanent absentee ballot.”
Mr. Clarke believes “there are enough statistics to show that if people have a mail ballot, you will significantly increase the turnout.”
(To be continued)
