Strong, smart advice for county elections

King County Executive Ron Sims and the King County Council should quickly enact a set of first-class recommendations from a first-class task force on election reform. Only by moving decisively can the county begin to restore public confidence in the elections system.

Sims' appointed group of top-notch problem solvers offered solid changes that ought to be implemented within the next month. The task force wisely recommends:

• Creating a turnaround team to change a flawed culture at the elections office. The team would recommend organizational change to the executive. He should err on the side of the team's advice. The council would have to approve the cost and ought to do so with ease.

• Instituting countywide vote by mail and regional voting centers by 2006. Traditionalists will scoff but the county cannot continue to produce two separate elections, one at the polls and a vote-by-mail event. The Legislature this year authorized counties to switch to vote by mail; many have done so. King County then would create four to six regional voting centers for voters who did not receive a mail ballot or who insist on voting in person. Giving up a cherished tradition is worth the gain of a smoother election.

Some recommendations require long-overdue changes in state policy. Lawmakers more committed to saving their jobs let important changes languish too long. Any legislator voting against the following reforms should be considered obstructionist during next year's legislative elections:

• First and foremost, move the primary to June. Secretaries of state, selected lawmakers and this page have pushed for years for this helpful election reform. With so many people voting by mail, the seven weeks between the September primary and November general election are not sufficient to produce a quality election.

• Allow one recount and require it to be conducted by hand. The current process providing a machine recount followed by a hand recount is too cumbersome. The machine recount alienates voters who cast valid votes machines can't read. The county should then provide two election observers at or adjacent to counting stations. King County eroded its credibility in the governor's recount by keeping observers physically too far away from the counting. Transparency, transparency, transparency.

• Require ballots to be received, not merely postmarked, by 8 p.m. Election Day. For no good reason, lawmakers have refused to enact this sensible reform. Requiring ballots to be mailed on time is crucial to assuring the public that ballots are not floating around the ether waiting to be counted.

Another reform calls for a nonpartisan elections director — a closer call. The office does not need to be further politicized but this would make the director more accountable to voters. This can be presented to voters at a later date but should not delay approval of other changes.

Sims' task force provided strong advice. The power of the advice lies in quick, decisive implementation. Hurry. Voter confidence is at an all-time low.