Nearly 3,000 in Valley Have No Place to Vote
BY DAN HARRIE
copy 2002, THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
"I felt kind of like I was being deprived of my voting rights," said Susan Rather, who as a result of redistricting must vote by mail. Thousands of Salt Lake County residents must do the same.
Nearly 3,000 Salt Lake County residents are being told they can't cast a vote at their neighborhood polling place on Election Day because they have fallen in the cracks between political boundaries.
If they want to exercise their democratic franchise they must use a mail-in ballot, postmarked no later than Nov. 4. The election is Nov. 5.
County election officials sent letters last week informing voters living in the no-polling place zones.
"The precinct in which you reside has been designated as a 'By-Mail Precinct' and, therefore, will not have a polling place assigned," says the letter. "Instead of you voting at a polling location, you will be mailed a ballot when you sign and return this form."
One other option not mentioned in the letter is to go in person to the County Clerk's Office and cast a ballot before Election Day.
County officials blame the Republican-controlled Legislature and gerrymandering during the once-in-a-decade process of redistricting. But GOP lawmakers insist they knew nothing of the potential voting obstacles, and suggest any fault lies with Democratic County Clerk Sherrie Swensen.
The problem essentially is one of complicated voting boundaries that have created tiny election precincts with as few as three voters or as many as 212. Salt Lake County officials say it is impractical and too costly to set up polling places for precincts with fewer than 300 voters. The average precinct has 700.
Vera Mason doesn't care about all the details and caveats. She's mad.
"This is disgusting," says the 72-year-old Sugar House-area Democrat. "People have the right to vote and people have the right to go in and punch their little ballot. It isn't right."
Mason blames the Legislature, suspecting that it is simply another attempt to marginalize minority Democrats.
Holladay resident Susan Rather, who also has been pushed into one of the mail-in ballot precincts, has a different view.
A Republican activist, Rather suspects Swensen of targeting her GOP-heavy neighborhood to help the Democrat in a fiercely contested state legislative race.
"It's obvious to me we won't get as many voters unless we really work hard," says Rather. "I felt kind of like I was being deprived of my voting rights."
Salt Lake County always has had a few straggling precincts too small to justify the $549 cost of hiring election judges and setting up each polling place. But the problem has increased dramatically this election, going from four precincts to 35 and affecting 2,833 voters, up from 140.
"It's just a real unfortunate situation," says Swensen. "We have so many more by-mail precincts because of the little puzzle pieces they gave us" in redistricting.
Swensen lays the blame squarely at the feet of lawmakers, saying they ignored the concerns of county election officials attempting to preserve as many precinct boundaries as possible.
While she doesn't ascribe motives to the Legislature, she adds: "When they drew their lines, they were looking at Democratic areas versus non-Democratic areas. We know that."
Elections Manager Michael Vu also says the mail-in ballot precincts are a result of redistricting. Lawmakers "disregarded" several recommendations for adjusting boundaries to ease the problem.
"From my gut, it was done intentionally," says Vu. "Salt Lake County was left without any of the boundaries being cleaned up."
State House Minority Whip Patrice Arent, D-Holladay, is more blunt.
"My understanding is this is caused by gerrymandering lines in redistricting," says Arent, who is running for the Senate. "I am concerned it is going to disenfranchise people and they're not going to vote. . . . These people could lose out on a very fundamental right."
But two Republican lawmakers heavily involved in Salt Lake County redistricting say they were unaware of the mail-in precinct issue until Friday, when contacted by The Salt Lake Tribune.
"I didn't know that was a problem," says Sen. Mike Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, and a chairman of the Redistricting Committee.
Rep. Ron Bigelow, R-West Valley City, was a member of the committee assigned to oversee political boundary redrawing in Salt Lake County. "That issue didn't even really come up," says Bigelow. "It would have been valuable information to have. I wish I would have known more about the ramifications."
State Democratic Executive Director Todd Taylor says Salt Lake County election issues seemed to be getting short shrift during redistricting. "I had concerns about their lack of attention in Salt Lake County to precinct boundaries," Taylor says, insisting he mentioned the need for "cleanup" to Waddoups. "That definitely did not happen here."
The County Council approved the mail-in ballot precincts Sept. 3. While state law allows local election officials flexibility in setting up polling places in precincts with fewer than 300 voters, Swensen says such a move "is not feasible" because of the cost and logistics.
Council member Marv Hendrickson, a Republican, has asked his staff to investigate the issue.
Meanwhile, voters like Rather and Mason are left in a sort of electoral limbo. "I'm not sure I have as many protections" with a mail-in ballot, says Rather. "I'm not sure it's a secret vote, or even if it's counted."
To be given a choice to vote by mail is one thing, says Mason. "To force us to do this is quite another issue. It's quite alarming, but I'm just one little voice."
