Washington state’s highly successful move to all mail elections is perhaps going to incorporate a new innovation. In an attempt at a softer, more accessible process for citizens to engage their elections and government, a proposal is calling for the state’s all mail elections to be postage free. It would all be under the same umbrella! Madeline Coats writing for the WNPA Olympia News Bureau based in the state’s capital broke the news. Here is an overview of the latest as described in the article:

A proposed law requested by Gov. Jay Inslee would provide prepaid postage for all election ballots in the state of Washington. Since 2011, all elections in the state have been conducted by mail, leaving voters responsible for paying return postage. Senate Bill 5063, co-sponsored by Sen. Joe Nguyen, D-White Center, and Sen. Bob Hasegawa, D-Beacon Hill, would eliminate that cost.

Inslee and Secretary of State Kim Wyman combined forces to secure enough funding for statewide ballot return postage in the 2018 primary and general elections. They did so after King County decided to provide post-paid ballots. State election officials were concerned this might unduly skew results toward the Seattle area. SB 5063 would require the state to reimburse counties for the cost of return postage on election ballots.

Read the full article here.