KUOW's The Conversation covered the King County vote-by-mail proposal today. Councilmembers Julia Patterson and Reagan Dunn were on sequentially. Personally, I thought that Reagan Dunn's argument for respecting citizen concerns and letting people vote the way they trust most was more persuasive than Julia Patterson's argument for forcing everybody to do things her way. But listen to the show [mp3] and make up your own mind.

And no, Councilmember Patterson, a mail ballot "drop off location" is not a substitute for a polling place. Even if you factor out the uncertainty of the postal service (on the return path) voters are still at risk for having their ballots tossed into the trashcan because of incorrect signature verification and having their ballots reworked by political appointees and Teamsters who presume to "divine voter intent" like the Great Karnak
.