Election fix? Lawmakers still groping for answers

02/19/2005

By DAVID AMMONS  / Associated Press

The courts still are weeks away from a definitive word on whether Washington's oddball 2004 election for governor will stand, but lawmakers are hip-deep in potential fixes for what ails the state's election system.

While critics continue to demand a statewide revote ? and that might happen this fall in the form of a whole new election ? Olympia has concluded that there is no single "silver bullet."

Secretary of State Sam Reed and county auditors are linking with key legislators to pursue a laundry list of mostly small-bore changes aimed at fixing glitches in the system and restoring tattered public confidence.

The changes could mean you'll be voting in flipflops during the summertime ? or required to vote by mail. County election departments will be under the gun to scrub their election rolls and handle ballots very, very carefully under rigorous new statewide standards.

The package, much of it embraced by the county auditors, moved through the Senate elections panel this past week and may pass the Senate this week. Reed and a gubernatorial task force wrap up their statewide listening tour this week and may add more bills to the already bulging hopper. Gov. Christine Gregoire also will weigh in.

And an important part of the fix doesn't even involve the Legislature:

_The state already is establishing a statewide voter registration database, financed by a federal act that passed after the Florida presidential fiasco in 2000. Reed says this should help counties scrub their rolls of felons, deceased voters, and those who move to another county.

_Counties, under the microscope as never before, already are scrambling to upgrade their local election practices and ward off a repeat of the problems that dominated the news in recent weeks.

_And voters' fury over the flawed election will die down as time passes and subsequent elections are conducted without a hitch, experts figure.

"It will take time ? you have to prove yourself all over again to the voters," says Pierce County Auditor Pat McCarthy.

___

PICKING UP THE PIECES

It was a Florida-like election spectacle: Washington's wide-open race for governor ended up a virtual tie ? just a tiny sliver of 1 percent separating Republican Dino Rossi and Democrat Gregoire. Rossi won the first count and the mandatory machine recount that followed, the latter by just 42 votes out of 2.9 million cast. In an unprecedented statewide hand recount, Gregoire pulled ahead by 129 votes.

Republicans and the media began identifying hundreds of problem ballots before Gregoire was inaugurated Jan. 12. Rossi-backers kept up a steady drumbeat for a new election and threw their last long bomb, an election contest in the courts.

That challenge is unfolding in Chelan County Superior Court, en route to a Supreme Court showdown that could set aside the election or give Gregoire a full four-year term.

Meanwhile, the Legislature has been caught in the backwash, trying to pick up the pieces and restore public confidence in the process.

Reed was first out of the gate with a package that includes his longtime dream of moving the state's primary from mid-September to earlier in the summer. He also requested bills to achieve greater ballot-handling consistency among the counties, an audit requirement for all 39 county election departments, and a ban on political parties rounding up stray absentee and provisional ballots.

He also proposed requiring that absentee ballots be received in courthouses by Election Day, not merely postmarked on that day. He wants a primary voters pamphlet and better training of election workers.

Much of his agenda was embraced by legislative Democrats. The Senate is taking the lead in passing reform legislation. The Senate election panel approved legislation to move the primary a month earlier ? to the third Tuesday in August _so counties have more turnaround time to get out general election ballots, especially to military and overseas voters.

Lawmakers also endorsed bills to impose statewide standards for handling of ballots, require first-time voters to produce identification at the polls, require regular audits of election departments, and require a paper trail for touch-screen voting machines like those used in Snohomish and Yakima counties.

Another Senate bill would allow counties to opt for conducting their elections entirely by mail. Rep. Sam Hunt, D-Olympia, is suggesting switching the entire state to vote-by-mail.

Senate elections Chairman Jim Kastama, D-Puyallup, says "Overall, what we're trying to do is standardize the election procedure across the state."

Republican proposals go further, including re-registration of all voters, toughening the penalty for illegal registration or voting, requiring that provisional ballots be given a distinctive color and bar code so they aren't accidentally counted before their validity is checked.

"The bottom line is we need to clean the voter registration rolls in this state," says Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn. "It's the number one thing we need to do. The other things are cosmetic. They're important that we do them, but they're not getting at the endemic problems that are there."

Rep. Toby Nixon, R-Kirkland, would require a revote in ultra-close races if the county can't match vote lists to the registration rolls.

___

SHORT MEMORIES?

Olympia hands say voter confidence has taken a hit, but that a quick and comprehensive response from the Legislature, a redoubled effort by the county auditors, and the passage of time will go a long way to patching things up.

"People will see some very concrete things that will restore faith," Kastama says. He says the Legislature will strike a balance, fine-tuning an already good election system, while not cracking down so hard on registration, voter ID and other elements that voter participation falls off.

"I don't want to overreact," he says.

Gregoire, who won't release her election package until her election reform task force submits a report in early March, says she wants meaningful reform, but adds, "I don't want anything to chill the people's exercise of a fundamental right."

Gregoire says some error seems unavoidable, but that the election managers have to keep trying harder to reach the elusive goal of perfection.

Rossi likes many of the reforms, particularly the efforts for greater consistency among the counties and the safeguards against illegal votes.

Reed and others say the passage of time will also ease the distrust.

"The furor around this election will last a while ? you can't legislate people's emotions," says Sen. Darlene Fairley, D-Lake Forest Park. "But after a few more years of `keeping on' and running good elections, things will settle down."

Some critics think Olympia's response is a bit timid.

"The system is broken and if anyone says it isn't, they either haven't been paying attention or they are being disingenuous," says Bob Williams, president of Evergreen Freedom Foundation.

The passing of time will help, says political scientist Todd Donovan, who notes that the furor has died down in recent weeks.

"Regular Joes' attention span is pretty short," he says.

___