Metropolitan King County Council
Budget and Fiscal Management Committee
STAFF REPORT
Agenda Item:

7

Name:

Wendy K. Soo Hoo

Proposed No.:

2018-0183

Date:

April 25, 2018

SUBJECT
Proposed Ordinance 2018-0183 would appropriate $381,000 to the Department of
Elections (Elections) to support prepaid postage for all returned ballots in King County
for the remaining elections in 2018.
SUMMARY
Proposed Ordinance 2018-0183 would provide $381,000 in appropriation authority to
enable Elections to provide business-reply postage for the 2018 primary and general
elections. Of this amount, approximately $191,000 would be revenue-backed by other
jurisdictions and $190,000 would be supported by the General Fund. Elections intends
to provide prepaid postage on an ongoing basis.
BACKGROUND
The King County Department of Elections (Elections) is responsible for conducting
elections, maintaining voter registration records in conjunction with the State of
Washington and providing election-related information to the public and other
governmental entities.
Under the Revised Code of Washington (RCW), counties are responsible for conducting
state and local elections with the cost of elections being shared by cities, towns and
districts based on their proportionate shares of the cost. 1 The state assumes a prorated
share of election costs in odd-numbered years.2 Elections allocates costs based on the
number of registered voters in each jurisdiction and jurisdictions are not charged for
additional offices or issues placed on the ballot.3
In recent years, Elections estimates that roughly 50 percent of ballots are returned by
drop box and roughly 50 percent by mail. In 2017, the State Legislature amended
Revised Code of Washington (RCW) 29A.40.160 to require counties to provide a
1 RCW 29A.04.025 and RCW 29A.04.410
2 RCW 29.04420
3 This methodology is one of two approved methods in the State Auditor's Office Budget
and Accounting Reporting System Manual.

 minimum of one drop box per 15,000 registered voters and a minimum of one ballot drop box
in each city, town, and census-designated place with a post office.
Elections is proposing to implement a prepaid postage program, beginning with the August
and November 2018 elections, to increase voter access. Currently, if a voter puts a ballot in
the mail without postage, some post offices will return the ballot to King County (at a charge
of $1.70 to King County), but not all post offices return ballots without postage.
The proposal to implement a prepaid postage program follows a pilot in the February 2017
Special Election in which Elections tested the use of prepaid postage in two participating
jurisdictions with approximately 65,000 registered voters (Shoreline and Maple Valley).
Voters in each jurisdiction received ballot packets that included a return envelope with the
Business Reply Mail postage already paid. The percentage of total ballots returned by mail
during the pilot was 74 percent, as compared to 43 percent in the 2016 General Election. In
addition, turnout exceeded that in the previous special election as shown in Table 1 below,
though turnout is influenced by many factors. According to Elections, a second pilot in April
2017 for about 8,000 registered voters experienced a similar increase (8 percent) in turnout.

Maple Valley
Shoreline

Table 1
Turnout for February 2017 Special Election Prepaid Postage Pilot
Actual Turnout
Projected Turnout
(in prepaid postage pilot)
(based on previous special election)
31%
37%
30%
40%

ANALYSIS
Proposed Ordinance 2018-0183 would appropriate $381,000 to Elections. This is the
estimated cost to provide prepaid postage for the August Primary Election and the November
General Election.
Elections Budget $381,000 ($191,000 revenue-backed)
2017/2018 Adopted Budget: $38,334,000
Previous Supplemental Appropriations: $672,000
Cumulative Total Appropriation to Date: $39,006,000
Under the proposal, ballots would be mailed to all voters with business-reply return
envelopes, but the US Postal Service would charge King County a rate of 50 cents for only
those ballots returned through the mail – no postage costs would be incurred for ballots
returned by drop box. Elections estimates an increase of 10 percent (from 50 percent to 60
percent) in the number of ballots that would be returned by mail rather than drop boxes if the
postage were paid by the county.
The costs would be allocated to jurisdictions participating in the election. Elections estimates
that $191,000 of the $381,000 estimated cost for prepaid postage for the remaining elections
in 2018 would be borne by other jurisdictions – the county General Fund would cover the
remaining $190,000. Attachment 4 shows the hypothetical costs other jurisdictions would

 have incurred for prepaid postage for the 2017 General Election based on the actual number
of ballots returned by mail.
The transmitted fiscal note also shows the anticipated costs and revenues for upcoming
biennia and is summarized in Table 2 below.
Table 2
Summary of Fiscal Note
Prepaid Postage
Cost
Revenue from
Other Jurisdictions

2017-2018

2019-2020

2021-2022

$381,000

$1,140,000

$1,005,000

$191,000

$675,000

$540,000

According to Elections staff, the estimated costs and revenues are based on prior years'
experience in terms of the number of measures and races on each ballot. The estimates also
assume that 60 percent of ballots would be returned by mail – in recent years, about half have
been returned by mail and half have been returned by drop box. The estimates do not take
into account any expected increase in overall turnout.
While the fiscal note shows an expected ongoing cost and Elections has indicated its intent to
implement this program on an ongoing basis, no code change is being proposed. As a result,
the Director of Elections could decide in the future to discontinue this program. Note that King
County would be the first county in Washington to provide prepaid postage on an ongoing
basis.
ATTACHMENTS
1.
2.
3.
4.

Proposed Ordinance/Motion 2018-0183
Transmittal Letter
Fiscal Note
Potential Prepaid Postage Costs by Jurisdiction for 2017 General Election

INVITED
1. Julie Wise, Director, Elections Department
2. Nathan Valderas, Deputy Director, Elections Department