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Field Poll: Mail ballots make 'fundamental change in the way people vote'
By Peter Hecht - phecht@sacbee.com
Published 12:00 am PST Friday, November 30, 2007
Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A3
For all the talk about getting out to vote, Californians – particularly those in the Bay Area – are simply mailing it in.
Since passage of a state law in 2002 allowing voters to sign up to cast their ballots by mail in every election, the number of permanent absentee voters has more than tripled.
According to a new Field Poll released Thursday, more than 4.2 million of the state's 15 million registered voters – 27.2 percent – have signed up to cast their ballots by mail. In the June 2006 state primary election, a record 47 percent of the ballots cast came from absentee voters.
"People who vote by mail once are more likely to vote by mail again," said California Field Poll director Mark DiCamillo. "It's a fundamental change in the way people vote."
With absentee ballots for California's Feb. 5 presidential primary going out on Jan. 7, millions of state residents will have a chance to vote ahead of earlier state primaries in Nevada, South Carolina, Michigan, Florida and Maine.
According to Field Poll surveys of 4,523 registered voters, whether you vote absentee may depend on where you live.
Twenty-nine percent of voters in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area and 20 percent of voters in the Central Valley have signed up as permanent absentee voters. But only 10 percent of voters in Los Angeles County and 11 percent in Orange County have chosen to vote permanently by mail.
Most permanent absentee voters – 75 percent – are white, while 13 percent are Latino, 8 percent are Asian and 4 percent are African American. Three out of four are homeowners.
California's overall voter registration tilts Democratic – 42 percent are registered Democrats, 34 percent are Republicans and 24 percent either are members of other parties or have declined to state an affiliation.
But among permanent absentee voters, Republicans hold a slight edge.
Republicans make up 41 percent of those choosing to vote by mail in all elections, while 40 percent are Democrats and 19 percent aren't registered with either party.
About the writer:
- Call Peter Hecht, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 326-5539.
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