Gage County residents and Grand Island Northwest school district patrons emphatically said no to bond issues Tuesday. But they did so in different ways.

In the school district, which covers parts of Hall, Merrick and Howard counties, 35 percent of voters went to polling places, where 81 percent said no to spending $6.8 million for a consolidated middle school.

In Gage County, there were no polling places, just mailboxes and a drop box across from the courthouse in Beatrice. In a vote conducted by mail, Gage County residents solidly defeated a proposed bond issue for a new jail. And they confirmed a recent trend: Turnout for elections conducted by mail only is almost always higher than traditional polling precinct elections.

Forty-nine percent of Gage County voters, who received their ballots at home last month, either mailed in their ballots or put them into the drop box by Tuesday's 5 p.m. deadline.

Of the 15,381 ballots sent out in the special election, 7,567 were returned, according to election commissioner Dawn Hill.

If you disregard the 2,187 ballots the post office returned to Hill because voters had moved without telling her office, the turnout was 57.4 percent.

"I would say it's a success when you have almost 50 percent participation in the voting," Hill told the Beatrice Daily Sun. "I think from what mail-in elections have shown across the state, they have had a higher percentage of voter turnout.

"That's the ultimate goal," she added.

Two other mail-in elections completed Tuesday in Southeast Nebraska strayed from the turnout trend. The turnout for Plattsmouth's sales tax vote was only 29 percent, and only 37 percent of Yutan voters returned ballots in a special election on fluoride.

In both March and September, Raymond Central school district got 60 percent turnouts for its all-mail votes on bond issues. The first failed; the second passed.

In June, 61 percent of Stromsburg's residents returned their sales tax ballots, and 57 percent of Osceola voters mailed or carried in their ballots on sales tax and swimming pool repair proposals.

Authorized by the Nebraska Legislature in 1996, local special elections conducted exclusively by mail have become more common in Nebraska the past couple of years, especially in political subdivisions with smaller populations, according to Secretary of State John Gale.

All-mail special elections can be used only in non-candidate situations, such as a bond issue, tax levy override or sales tax issue. Special elections involving an office vacancy or recall of an official must use polling places.

Of 20 non-candidate special elections held in Nebraska in 2008, seven used the all-mail method, Gale said.

This year, there have been 39 special elections, with 20 conducted all by mail and 19 by polling precinct.

Gale said the most significant difference between the two methods has been the turnout.

The average turnout for mail-in elections in 2009 has been 53 percent, compared to 38 percent for polling place elections.

"The best news with the all-mail elections is that a greater number of voters have a say on the matter," Gale said. "Such participation is certainly healthier for our democracy."

Besides producing higher turnouts, the all-mail elections have the advantages of avoiding nasty weather, being convenient for voters and avoiding the cost of using polling places, Gale said.

The success rate of special elections this year has been almost identical in the two voting approaches: 76 percent for polling place votes and 75 percent for all-mail votes, according to figures provided by Neal Erickson, deputy secretary of state for elections.

"There are many factors that contribute to whether or not an issue before the voters is successful in a special election," Erickson said. "Therefore, it's difficult to draw conclusions regarding reasons why certain elections are successful, while others are not."

Eight bond issues have been voted on in 2009 by mail and eight by polling precinct. With each method, five bond issues passed and three failed.

Four sales tax votes were conducted by mail and three by polling place. All seven passed.

The Gage County special election was the first countywide special election conducted by mail in Nebraska and by far the largest in terms of ballots sent out and returned.

Gage County supervisors said they chose the mail-ballot election method in part because renovation being done at the courthouse would have made voting there difficult.

The mail-in election was expected to cost approximately $20,000.

Mail-in elections usually will cost less, Gale said, but they're not necessarily easier for election officials.

In traditional elections, much of the processing is done at the precinct level, Gale noted, including opening of ballots, verifying voter registrations, etc.

With all-mail elections, all those tasks are conducted at the election office. The burden is on the election commissioner to have enough staff and volunteers available and trained to do the job.

"The Gage County commissioner made her best estimate and got overwhelmed," Gale said.

Hill, Gage County's election commissioner, had hoped results of the jail bond issue would be available early Tuesday evening.

Instead, they were announced about 4 a.m. Wednesday.

In hindsight, Hill said, instead of waiting for Tuesday's 5 p.m. ballots deadline, she and her staff should have started a couple of days earlier.

Reach Bill Eddy at 473-2651 or beddy@journalstar.com