Bills offer election fixes

OLYMPIA — The chaotic governor's election that went through two recounts, and is now in court, has lawmakers bustling to pass laws aimed at heading off similar turmoil in the future.

More than a dozen bills are in the works, including proposals that would require that absentee ballots be received by Election Day and measures that would move the primary election to an earlier date.

"Voters deserve to feel like we've paid attention to what happened and we're at least going to fix what we can fix," said House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam.

No amount of new legislation, however, can completely prevent problems from cropping up in an election like the one between Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire and Republican Dino Rossi, election officials say. Gregoire won by 129 votes. The Republicans are contesting the election in court.

"It's important not to set up a false expectation," King County Elections Director Dean Logan said yesterday. "When you're dealing with a process that is so dependent on human interactions ... there is going to be a margin of human and administrative error."

King County was ground zero for many of the highest-profile problems that occurred during the election, such as the more than 300 provisional ballots that were improperly run through tabulating machines.

Logan, along with several county auditors and Secretary of State Sam Reed, testified yesterday at a state Senate hearing that reviewed everything from felons voting in the election to the types of equipment used to count votes across the state.

Reed also told lawmakers there were bound to be problems in this election, considering how close it was and the number of people involved in counting the votes. "Really what we've seen is an unreasonably, historically close election," he said.

That said, "we know we had some mistakes and know we need corrections," Reed acknowledged.

He outlined a list of changes he hopes to get introduced, many of which deal with the handling and processing of ballots, such as requiring all counties to notify voters in writing if their ballot signatures are missing or are in question. Currently, there aren't uniform standards.

Two proposals in particular have gained attention: legislation requiring that absentee ballots be in the election office by Election Day, and measures that would move the primary to a date earlier in the year.

Advocates say the moves would give election workers more time to get out absentee and overseas military ballots to voters. Another benefit would be quicker election results.

State law currently requires that absentee ballots be postmarked by Election Day, which in some cases can drag out elections for several days.

The primary is now held in September. Proposals for an earlier primary include moving it back to August or even to June.

State Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, doesn't like the idea of holding the primary in early summer. That would push back the filing deadline for lawmakers running for office, she said. "You'd have every legislator running for office in the middle of the [legislative] session," she said.

There's also concern among some legislators that requiring absentee ballots to be in by Election Day could result in some votes not getting counted.

Reed said the state is already moving ahead with programs that should help deal with problems such as illegal voting by felons whose voting rights haven't been restored. For example, he said, Washington is creating a central database of voters that will make it easier to compare voter names to court records.

Still, the database won't eliminate the problem, Reed said, "because the process of deciding who they are is a difficult one. Felons, for example, could be convicted in a different state or be registering under different names."

Andrew Garber: 360-943-9882 or agarber@seattletimes.com