Election: New envelopes threaten voter privacy

I just received my ballot for the primary election, and I am upset that we have to declare our party affiliation, sign and place our phone number on the outside of the mailing envelope for anyone to see. Any person with bad intentions that works or handles these ballots or steals the envelope could forge my signature, and use my address and phone number for ill purposes.

I beg our county to change this. It used to be that the envelope had a large back flap that covered private information. This change in the last few election cycles is disturbing and might deter some people from voting because they are concerned about their privacy and identity theft. The Pierce County auditor should address this concern, respond and try to get back to the envelope format that we used before.

This story was originally published May 10, 2016 at 12:54 PM with the headline "Election: New envelopes threaten voter privacy."