To the mailbox, ye sons of Freedom

For all the political huffing and puffing about a plan to make elections in King County all-mail voting, the key thing to remember is that voters chose the new system.

Every year, the percentage of voters switching to mail voting increases; 70 percent of voters in King County currently vote absentee.

Traditionalists who like the experience of voting at the polls will not be happy. Many Republicans, still upset over last year's election, will not like it because it could increase the chance of voter misconduct or fraud.

But the Legislature earlier this year authorized counties to switch to all-mail voting and 33 of 39 counties have agreed to make the change. By last election, 28 counties had done so with little or no problem.

Voting by mail isn't a more-perfect system than poll voting. Human error will be involved in both approaches. Voters obviously believe the convenience trumps concerns about mistakes.

All-mail voting offers efficiencies. There is no excuse for sloppy ballot counting in King or any other county, but producing two different kinds of elections — a mail and poll election — is increasingly difficult.

Washington's ridiculously late-in-the-calendar primary is a recipe for trouble. With more citizens voting by mail and ballot counting slowed by an absurd rule allowing ballots to be postmarked as late as midnight Election Day, election workers have limited time to count ballots. That is especially true in the primary, when the workers have seven weeks to turn around and prepare for the general election.

If the Legislature continues its glib avoidance of sensible changes in election law — requiring ballots to be received, not postmarked, by Election Day and allowing the primary to continue to be held in late September — the switch to all-mail balloting is the wise course.

King County also should consolidate election operations in one place while it pursues technical changes to switch to all-mail voting.

A vote-by-mail system is inevitable. Elected officials are catching up with the public.