Visiting the State Capitol in Olympia soon? Are you a state legislator, lege staffer or lobbyist who needs a short break from the chaos typically marking the final days of a legislative session? Or do you want to learn how the braille language was created? If the answer is “yes” to any of these questions, check out the new exhibit on Louis Braille that opened today in the Legislative Building on the Capitol Campus. The display is located on the…
One of Secretary Reed’s requested bills for this session cleared a key hurdle when the Senate Government Operations and Elections Committee passed it Monday. House Bill 2483 would let military and overseas voters return a ballot by fax or email as long as the voter’s signed declaration is returned with the ballot. It would help ensure that our military and overseas voters can send in their ballot in time to be counted. The bill is headed to the Senate Rules…
We are very proud of our boss Sam Reed, who was recently recognized as a Public Official of the Year. Now comes a tribute to his public service career by Shelby Scates in the winter edition of Washington Law & Politics. In the piece “Mr. Moderate,” former PI columnist Scates looks at how Sam has made key contributions and solved major issues in Washington State over the years, all while remaining cool and even-handed. “He may be the best…
Comcast Newsmakers talks with Sam Reed about the various functions of his office. It’s a good summary of the (rather odd) variety of functions the Office of the Secretary of State performs: elections, corporations, charities, archives, legacy project, the state library. The Washington State Library gets excellent treatment, both time-wise and praise-wise. If you’re impatient, you can skip ahead – we’re covered from 1:01 – 2:16.
Secretary of State Reed is ramping up efforts to persuade the national political parties to reform the country’s “dysfunctional” system of picking our White House nominees. Reed and the National Association of Secretaries of State are hoping the parties will replace the current free-for-all system of increasingly early primaries with a more rational system of rotating regional primaries. Reed, a former NASS president and a senior member of its committee on primary reform, made the case to a study committee…
Gov. Chris Gregoire, backed by House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, is urging lawmakers to assist counties in producing a faster count of election returns. That could mean requiring that ballots be in hand by the local elections office by Election Day in order to be counted. Secretary of State Sam Reed has made that suggestion for the past two years, but the legislation has generated little interest in Olympia. On Monday, as the state’s largest city, Seattle, still awaits a…
Our digital collections librarian, who is working on a library project to digitize all past Washington State Voters Pamphlets, stumbled across a crowd pleaser: a blast from the past! There in the 1988 voters’ pamphlet, is Sam Reed running for state auditor. Our current Washington Secretary of State didn’t win his race that year; Robert V. Graham D beat him out with 55.43% to Reed’s 44.57%. But Reed did go on to be elected Thurston County Auditor five times. The Library started with digitizing…
Secretary Reed played a game of Civics Jeopardy with students from Yakima Valley Community College on Thursday as part of his College Civics tour.
Looking for that perfect gift for someone coming in from out of town, or a relative or for a co-worker’s birthday? Want to give a gift that screams “Washington”? Well, look no further than to our State Seal Store. Items ranging from crystal stemware, pewter desk sets, travel mugs, velvet wine bags and so much more can be found right in our lobby. And, all profits from the sale of each item go directly to the preservation of the historic…