By Jerry Cornfield

The (Everett) Herald

OLYMPIA — Voters in the state’s most-populous cities and smallest towns shouldn’t have to look as hard in future elections for a box in which to return their ballots postage-free.

On Wednesday, the state House approved a Senate bill requiring dozens of additional drop boxes be installed throughout the state, possibly in time for the August primary.

The House passed Senate Bill 5472 on a 51-46 vote with only one Republican, House Minority Leader Dan Kristiansen, R-Snohomish, supporting it.

The vote followed a spirited floor debate in which Democrats lauded it as a means of increasing access for voters in rural communities and Republicans countered that the well-intended measure forces counties to spend thousands of dollars to serve small numbers of voters in remote communities.

The legislation, which passed in the Senate 49-0, now goes to Gov. Jay Inslee for his expected signature.

“I would like to increase the number of ballot drop boxes. I think it’s appropriate to do that in many, many places in the state,” Inslee told reporters Thursday morning. “Drop boxes are really important to people’s access to the ballot.”

The legislation authored by Sen. Kirk Pearson, R-Monroe, requires at least one ballot drop box for every 15,000 registered voters in a county and a minimum of one box in each city, town, and census-designated place in a county with a post office.