Why not expand mail-in voting to everyone in state

If voter participation is vital to our form of democracy, voters in 22 precincts in four Nebraska counties are at an advantage.

Bad weather, muddy roads, busy lives will no longer be a reason not to express your preference for elected offices and issues if you live in parts of Cherry, Morrill, Boone and Keya Paha Counties.

And it's all been accomplished with an infrastructure that's already in place and easy to use.

Secretary of State John A. Gale announced voters in 22 precincts in those counties are taking advantage of a system authorized by the Legislature in 2005, allowing counties with fewer than 7,000 residents to apply to his office to conduct all elections by mail in any or all of the precincts in the county.

"Using mail in these instances is an attempt to cut costs and reduce voter hardships in sparsely populated areas," Gale said.

Registered voters in those precincts will be mailed ballots by first-class mail, will include envelopes with sufficient first-class postage for the ballots to be returned

Factors that were considered in reviewing applications for all-mail precincts included a low number of registered voters, minimally maintained roads, polling sites that did not meet disability standards and difficulty in obtaining poll workers.

Election Day is a great tradition that we should think twice about giving up, from the casting of the first ballots early in the morning until the last precinct is in. We've enjoyed watching the votes add up on the tally board in county clerk's office for years -- although the process has become much quicker and with less time for suspense to built, thanks to Nebraska's optical scanning system.

But what's wrong with making it easier for citizens to take part in our participatory government?

If the all-mail system works as well in these parts of Nebraska, as it has in other parts of the nation, why not extend it to all of us, in the rest of the state?