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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, February 9, 2009 Page 7 Ms. Curti opined that there would be some cost savings realized in a mail only election, as well as early voting, as the City's main election cost was due to staff- ing election judges at various precincts and for the labor intensive nature of ab- sentee voting requirements. Ms. Curti noted that staff didn't want to hinder the City's leadership role in the number of citizens voting, or in the number of absen- tee ballots; noting that the City's voter rate was 90% of registered voters, com- pared to statewide voting rates of only 79%. Ms. Curti advised that there were some advocates, including the Secretary of State's Office, pursuing current legislation; however, it was not certain that the legislation would be successful. Ms. Curti advised that Mr. Mansky had offered to attend a briefing for the City Council to provide additional information in a public forum. Ms. Curti noted that Mr. Mansky, during his tenure with the Secre- tary of State's Office, had written considerable election legislation. Ms. Curti advised that, if the City Council was interested in being a test City in 2010, staff could draft an appropriate resolution indicating such for Ramsey County and the Secretary of State's Office. Councilmember Pust thanked Ms. Curti and staff for all their work during election season and in past elections, and for bringing these ideas forward. Councilmem- ber Pust opined that Roseville was a leader; and noted that citizens in Roseville already used the "vote early" concept, but that it was consider Absentee Voting. Councilmember Pust opined that this seemed to be an obvious option, since as long as people were on site to vote early by Absentee Ballot, their ballots should be sent through the counting machines, at which time any errors could be deter- mined and resolved while they were present, and ensuring that their vote would count. Councilmember Pust opined that she was more concerned with the mail only option, expressing questions as to whether this would negatively impact or provide barriers to Minnesota's option for same day registration; and whether suf- ficient qualifications were in place to facilitate mail only elections. Councilmem- ber Pust opined that the rest of the nation should follow the example set by the State of MN in allowing for same day registration. Ms. Curti advised that she could do further research with the State of Oregon and other contacts to determine if this would be a negative impact. Councilmember Ihlan expressed her support of passing a resolution to volunteer Roseville as a test site; sharing similar concerns with mail only elections. Councilmember Johnson expressed concern that the City of Roseville was able to maintain or improve upon its high voting turnout record; and asked for additional information on how mail votes were counted and verified, and how the process was best monitored.