‘Still reforming’: Governor signs election package
Flanked by Secretary of State Sam Reed and many of Washington’s County Auditors, Governor Gregoire has signed election legislation that will save tax dollars, reduce the number of springtime election dates, and make voter registration even more convenient for qualified residents.
Reed says the four bills signed by the governor on Friday reflect a goal by his Elections Division and the counties to continuously improve the elections process in Washington. “We are constantly on the lookout for better ways of doing business,” Reed said. “Our collective goal — the counties and the state, the executive branch and legislative branch — is for fair, accurate, accessible and secure elections. We are already on the map as one of the nation’s finest systems, and yet there’s always more work to do. We’re still reforming. We’re already thinking ahead to the 2010 legislative session.”
The bills signed by the governor include:
- Special elections. HB1018 reduces the number of springtime special local election dates from four to three (February, April and May) until 2011. After that, the available dates will be February and April. The change will save significant tax dollars and will allow more time for counties to handle the crush of voter registration and getting ready for the next election, Reed says.
- Voter registration. Prospective voters will be allowed to register closer to Election Day under SB5270 — as close as eight days before the election if you register in person and 29 days if you want to go online or register by mail or through a volunteer registrar. The current deadlines are 15 days and 31 days, respectively.
- Reducing expenses. As part of the agency’s budget-cutting, SB6122 authorizes Elections Division to cut previously required levels of spending for legal advertising, printing, county election department reviews, and publications. Reed expects to save about $500k in the next two years. The new agency budget will be about $40 million in General Fund dollars, down 26 percent from $56 million in the current budget.
- Identifying marks. SB5359 bars election officials from marking a ballot in any way that identifies the voter, and also says that if a voter signs or marks his or her own ballot, it won’t be thrown out.
Other election measures were previously signed by the governor, clarifying candidate filing, eliminating the requirement to send ballots to inactive voters, and permitting ex-convicts to apply for restoration of voting rights once released from prison and community supervision.
“It has been a very good year for election legislation, and we and the County Auditors greatly appreciate the support from the Legislature and Governor Gregoire,” said state Elections Director Nick Handy.
2 thoughts on “‘Still reforming’: Governor signs election package”
As usual, the state didn’t pass any legislation that addresses voter fraud.
Giving convicted felons the right to vote earlier doesn’t help the election process one iota. It is a purely political manuever by Democrats who know criminals generally are liberal.
It will be a good year for election legislation when the legislature makes it a law that picture identification is required to cast a ballot; when better safeguards against returned ballots are put into place; and last but most importantly, when statewide rules on how to count ballots is implemented.
I don’t expect that good year to come any time soon.
thanks for your interest in elections and your various blog posts on our site. Here are some replies I hope you’ll consider:
Photo ID. Except for a small number of voters in Pierce County, Washington no longer uses pollsites. Washington is vote by mail. In a vote by mail state, identification if proven by the voter’s signature of the return envelope. In Washington State, each voter’s signature on the return is compared with the voter’s signature on the voter registration card. Photo ID does not work in a vote by mail state.
Reconciliation Standards. The Washington State Legislature in 2005 and 2006 adopted much stricter reconciliation procedures and reporting for county election offices following the 2004 Governor’s race. Under these standards, the counties must account for every ballot received and must report information to the state following the election verifying county procedures. Under these reconciliation procedures, ballots counted and ballots rejected must equal ballots received. Each county must report this information to the Secretary of State after each election.
Statewide Standards on What is a Vote. Washington promulgated mandatory statewide standards on “What is a Vote” two years ago. The rules are in effect statewide and we believe these standards are being uniformly administered statewide. These standards are posted on our website at
http://www.secstate.wa.gov/_assets/elections/2008StatewideStandardsonWhatisaVote.pdf
Voter Fraud. Washington has not had a problem with voter fraud. The judge in the 2004 Governor’s race specifically found no evidence of fraud in Washington state. The judge did find “illegal votes” in the 2004 Governor’s race, the most serious of which related to felon voting. The judge found approximately 1500 felons voted in the election. The legislation just passed directly addresses illegal felon voting. The illegal felons in 2004 were on the voter rolls because no system existed for keeping them off. Now, under the new legislation, the state will have a list of those citizens in Washington who are not eligible to vote due to felon status. This new legislation will prevent illegal felons from becoming registered or getting a ballot and will directly address illegal felon voting.
Comments are closed.