Absentee voting drawing a crowd

It's 10:30 a.m. at Roseville City Hall, and a steady stream of visitors are checking out posters that say: "Absentee Voters: Follow Yellow Signs."

The early-bird voters headed to the City Council chamber, which was converted into an absentee voter station with cardboard "voting booths" and three election judges to answer questions. Dozens of people cast ballots in person on this day. Another 80 ballots arrived in the mail, as did 40 requests for them.

Roseville, like cities across the metro area and the nation, is experiencing a blitz in absentee voting. With one of the highest proportions of absentee voting in the region, the city exemplifies a growing national trend. At least one in 10 Twin Cities voters are expected to cast an absentee ballot before Nov. 4 -- in person or by mail. In suburbs such as Roseville with many senior citizens, it's expected to be at least one in seven.

Twin Cities election officials are scrambling to hire staff to mail out ballots, process them when they return and assist hundreds of early voters heading to city halls each day.

"This is the first time we're voting absentee," said Roseville voter Harlan Smith, 94, who after seven decades of voting in person decided that the lines for the 2008 election might wear him out.

"We voted here in the primary, but parking was close then,'' he said. "And it wasn't cold."

About 7 percent of Minnesota voters cast absentee ballots in 2000, 8 percent in 2004 and 10 to 12 percent are expected this year, said Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie.

"Our city clerks and county auditors are unanimously saying they're seeing an increase in requests," Ritchie said.

Between absentee voting and early voting -- allowed in 31 states -- a third of the nation's voters are expected to vote before Nov. 4, said Paul Gronke, director of the Early Voting Information Center at Reed College in Oregon. That's up from 20 percent in 2004 and 15 percent in 2000, he said.

Minnesota election laws allow absentee voting for residents who have an illness or disability, who will be out of town on Election Day, or who have a conflict with a religious observance. Election judges also can do it.

Intense public interest in this year's elections, worries about long lines on Nov. 4, easier balloting access from overseas and the growing ranks of Minnesota senior citizens all play roles in the boom, said election officials.

"If you look at voter turnout, the highest percentage of voters are age 65 to 74, followed by age 55 to 64 and then 75 and older,'' said Ramsey County elections supervisor Joe Mansky, noting that these are the majority of people voting absentee.

The folks casting absentee ballots in Roseville are typical. Most were senior citizens, including "snow birds'' who winter in warmer climates. Out-of-town college students, travelling business people and residents temporarily living elsewhere also were voting early.

But Roseville has other characteristics that make it a bigger magnet for absentee voters. It has four nursing homes as well as other senior housing options, said Carolyn Curti, Roseville's election coordinator. It has a relatively high percentage of college graduates and relatively high household income -- both which contribute to higher voter participation -- even as people age.

"We had 13 percent of our voters vote absentee in 2004; we're expecting at least 15 percent this year," Curti said.

The largest numbers of absentee voters are in St. Paul and Minneapolis, which are seeing up to a 100 people walk in each day to vote, and that many ballots arriving by mail.

"We're gearing up 10 percent [of the voters], or 20,000 absentee ballots,'' said Cindy Reichert, elections director for Minneapolis.

But the proportion of absentee voters are largest in some of the older suburbs, such as Roseville, Bloomington, Edina and Richfield, which expect 15 to 20 percent of their voters to cast absentee ballots.

"I ordered ballots for 35 percent of our registered voters,'' said Nancy Gibbs, Richfield city clerk. "Hopefully I won't use all of them.''

Roseville's Smith, a university economics professor for 60 years, said this election was particularly important to him because of the nation's economic downturn. Both he and his wife, Margaret, also are concerned about the war in Iraq.

Health care also is on the minds of Roseville voters. Steven Lang, a retired meat cutter, said he spent nearly his entire monthly pension on Medicare and his secondary health insurance. Said Lang: "It's getting out of hand.''

Neither Lang nor the Smiths discussed their party affiliations, but Democrats and Independence Party voters are leading the surge in advance voting nationally, Gronke said. Historically, early voters tended to be Republicans, he said.

In Roseville, meanwhile, election judges are working double duty. When they're not helping walk-in voters, they're bent over tables in the City Council chambers, double checking the signatures of every ballot that arrives in the mail with the signature on the person's absentee voter registration form. It's a painstaking process.

Said Curti: "This is my eighth year doing elections, and it's never been like this.''

Jean Hopfensperger • 651-298-1553