Architects of the St. John's vote-by-mail system could use this article.
As of close-of-business Tuesday, a total of 25, 000 vote kits had been returned. That's well below the anticipated increase in voter turn-out city officials predicted. About 4, 000 of those vote kits were not cast, representing people who were dead or who had moved. About 21, 000 valid votes had been accepted although the system has no way of preventing fraud, let alone detect it.
Anticipate that ballot returns will drop off over the next few days. Friday is the cut off for mailing ballots. Kits will accepted up to 2000 hrs (8:00 PM) on 27 September 2005, with counting taking place as soon as "polls" close.
My guestimate is that the turnout of cast ballots (as opposed to total kits returned) will hover around 30, 000. That's almost 10, 000 ballots lower than last time and well short of the 60% plus turn-out officials expected.
