Less tampering with state elections

Voter registration all the way up to Election Day is an idea full of hazard and cost, and yet a bill that would accomplish this sailed through the state Senate. It is a bad idea, and the House should kill it.

The purpose of voter registration is to determine who is legally qualified to vote. Under current law, a voter may register by mail up to 30 days before an election, and in person for another 15 days. The reason for the cutoff is to give county auditors time to verify that the application is filled out properly, and the Secretary of State's Office time to check whether the voter is already registered at a different address, or had his right to vote taken away by a court, or has died.

Senate Bill 5561 is sponsored by freshman Sen. Eric Oemig, D-Kirkland, lately famous for sponsoring a bill to recommend the impeachment of the president of the United States. Under Oemig's election bill, ballots would not be counted unless the verification checked out — a provision needed to prevent voter fraud. But the bill would create a tide of paperwork in the last 15 days of an election campaign.

In Minnesota and Idaho, which have Election Day registration, 10 to 20 percent of voters register on that day. At those percentages, figures Secretary of State Sam Reed, 320,000 registrations might be submitted in one Washington election.

The state's system for checking multiple registrations, deceased voters, etc., has been running only since January 2006, and was set up with the 30-day and 15-day cutoffs in mind. With the proposed alteration, Reed says, the system would have to be changed. He estimates the cost at $4 million for the state and more for the county auditors.

It could be done. Ballots from last-minute registrations would have to be set aside and counted only as the registrations were verified, and that would take time. More public employees would have to be hired and trained. Close elections would be unresolved for several more days.

The reason to go through all this would be to entice more people to vote. Reed doubts that it would do much. Registering to vote already is easy, and vote-by-mail has made voting easier. It is not so bad to require a little effort on the part of the citizen.

"We're talking about adults here," says Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn. "At some point, the people have to take a responsibility."