Fill the holes in elections office

Critical holes in leadership at King County's elections office seem a lot more perilous than they really are — that is, if a new elections director can be in the driver's seat well before the November general election.

Not to worry about the September primary. It should be a manageable affair. Most contests are not expected to be squeaky tight, with the possible exception of the Democratic primary in the 43rd District state House race, Rep. Ed Murray's old seat. Six Democrats are vying for the seat; dividing 100 percent by six can be tricky, and close. Both the county elections director and superintendent positions are open and need to be filled promptly.

A half-million absentee ballots were mailed this week to King County voters. While that volume of ballots along with a poll vote are a lot to keep track of, King County Executive Ron Sims has placed a trusted employee, Jim Buck, in charge of elections. Buck filled in before in 2003 during a vacancy, so this is not new territory for him.

All things being equal, it would be better to have a permanent leader right now. But the County Council stymied the hiring process by pushing to change the appointed elections director's status to a publicly elected post.

More recently, council members backed off, at least for a year. But whom are they kidding? What qualified professional would take the job, knowing it might last only a very short time?

Sims must follow through on an expectation to have a permanent replacement for the recently departed Dean Logan by the Sept. 19 primary.

Anyone hired this month will not be able to do much about the primary, except in an observer's role.

The biggest need is to have a new leader on the ground ready to go for the November election, which could feature a very close Senate race and other close contests.