The City of Elma now is home to a ballot drop box.

For several years the city has urged the county to install a ballot drop box in Elma, but those requests had been met with no action. It took an act of the state Legislature to get a ballot drop box in Elma.

Earlier this year, the state Legislature passed Senate Bill 5472 mandating ballot drop boxes in most communities.

The bill states “the county auditor must establish a minimum of one ballot drop box per (15,000) registered voters in the county and a minimum of one ballot drop box in each city, town, and census designated place in the county with a post office.”

The deadline to install the box was July. The county had been working with the City of Elma to draft an agreement and the commissioners approved that agreement on Oct. 16.

Elma City Councilman Tom Boling has been an outspoken advocate asking the county to install a ballot box in Elma. He is happy with the new installation.

“I’m very excited about the ballot box. In fact my wife and I have already put our ballots in. We received them on Friday and dropped them off already,” Boling said. “It’s very good news that we have finally got one. I’m very pleased with the county, and happy we finally got one here. I think it’s going to be a big plus for the citizens.”

The ballot box is located in the alley between City Hall and the Elma Fire Department parking lot on Second Street.

“I think it’s a great thing,” Elma Mayor Jim Sorensen said. “Anything that will increase voter turnout is a great thing. It gives voters more options on how to return their ballots.”

As for cost, the county received a donated ballot box from Thurston County. Former county auditor Vern Spatz had sought the ballot box and was able to get it for the Elma location at no cost. The county spent about $400 installing the box.

The same box purchased new by the county is estimated to cost about $3,500. A ballot box similar in size to the ballot box next to the county courthouse in Montesano costs about $7,000.

The Senate Bill, however, would impact more than just Elma moving forward. In total, the county is looking at having to install 14 total ballot boxes county wide.

And as more ballot boxes are installed, more temporary elections staff is needed to collect the ballots. On election night, elections staff travels in pairs to collect ballots. While increased staff would mean increased cost, the cost is minimal.

For the entire year it would cost $440 to staff the extra ballot boxes. Currently, the county auditor’s office believes it can handle the increased demand of Elma without bringing on extra staff, but if all 14 ballot boxes were to be installed, additional temporary staff would be a necessity.

“Right now there are two additional spots there were kind of looking at,” Auditor Chris Thomas said. “We’ve been talking with Ocean Shores about putting one up in the near future, and then possibly Westport.”

Thomas said the auditor’s office has four more ballot boxes on hand that could be installed. Two of the ballot boxes are the same size Elma received, and the other two are slightly smaller than the ballot box at the county courthouse.

“We’re trying our best to comply with the law. We’re working on getting those up,” Thomas said. “Cost is an issue. If we got all 14 locations, we’d have to pay for the staff to routinely pick those up.”

Thomas said the county commissioners have been viewing the issue as an “unfunded mandate.”

“As for the auditor’s office, we’re just doing our best to comply with the law,” Thomas said.