Key electoral reforms proposed
Bipartisan package of changes

By NEIL MODIE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER   01 February 2005

King County would make provisional ballots distinguishable from regular ballots and adopt other changes to lessen future election problems under a bipartisan reform package proposed yesterday by two County Council members.

Julia Patterson, D-SeaTac, and Kathy Lambert, R-Redmond, said improvements are needed to avert future administrative errors like those that occurred in the hotly contested governor's race and to restore public trust in the elections process.

Their legislation would include:

Requiring formatting of provisional ballots to make them distinguishable from standard ballots and prevent machine tabulation of them before the ballots are verified, perhaps by making the provisional ballots too large to be fed into the machines. In the Nov. 2 election, 348 provisional ballots were improperly tabulated before the voters' registration status could be verified.

Directing the county executive to develop a space plan to centralize election facilities to improve efficiency and minimize the opportunity for mistakes. The elections department currently operates out of three separate facilities, posing communications and operational challenges, Lambert and Patterson said.

Providing more money to improve training of election workers in proper handling of ballots, staffing of polling locations and managing voter registration lists.

Directing the county executive to conduct a non-partisan election entirely by mail in King County, perhaps in a school or fire district election, as a pilot project. The county operates 400 polling locations and issues hundreds of thousands of absentee ballots for a general election, but a growing number of voters now nearly 70 percent vote by mail. Lambert and Patterson said it requires running two separate election systems.

The two also called for state legislation to move the primary election at least a month back from the third Tuesday in September, giving election workers more time to certify the primary and prepare for the general election. Secretary of State Sam Reed has proposed a primary the third Tuesday of June.

Patterson emphasized that the election mistakes were caused by human error and that "there is no proof or any evidence whatsoever that there was any fraud or partisanship on the part of King County." She said it has upset her "to hear some talk radio shows fanning the fire, spreading the lie that there was fraud. That is absolutely false."

Councilman David Irons Jr., R-Sammamish, has called for another change in King County election procedures in the wake of the contested gubernatorial election. He wants to amend the county charter to create an elective position of county auditor who would administer elections.

Elections currently are administered by the director of records, elections and licensing services, who is appointed by the county executive.