OLYMPIA — The Election Reform Task Force created by Gov. Christine Gregoire recommends moving the primary date up and requiring voter identification at the polls.
A 23-page report, obtained in advance of its release, was the product of the panel co-chaired by Secretary of State Sam Reed and former state Sen. Betti Sheldon that held public hearings statewide after the state's closest gubernatorial election.
The task force suggests that all counties certify their results on the same day, which would require larger counties to start earlier but would lessen the likelihood of a dramatic change in results that could take place if counties were late in counting and certifying results.
King County was singled out in the report as needing to improve its elections system.
"Regardless of whether the concerns are real or perceived, the elected and appointed officials in King County must immediately make it a top priority to establish and fund an elections system that meets the standards expected by the citizens across Washington State," the report read.
Reed cited a lack of proper work space and concerns over the accountability of some of the staff members in reporting mistakes and errors.
Election suggestions
Among the recommendations of the Election Reform Task Force created by Gov. Christine Gregoire:
• Hold the primary at least four weeks earlier, allowing officials more time to handle recounts and prepare for the general election, including sending ballots to military and overseas voters.
• Require voter identification at polling sites.
• Improve voter-registration records, including a strong effort to quickly follow the federal Help America Act's requirement for a new centralized statewide voter-registration database by 2006.
• Improve military voting with a system in which the state would be notified of voters' deployments so ballot delivery could be streamlined.
• Standardize voting procedures across the state by giving the secretary of state a stronger role to set rules for counties.
• Provide clearer warnings and stronger enforcement of voter fraud.
• Require all counties to certify their results on the same day.
• Retain the local option of voting by mail.
• Identify provisional ballots by color and by coding that prohibits the ballot from being read until after the voter's registration can be confirmed.
• Mandatory review or audit of county elections offices by the Secretary of State's Office.
• Improve notice of signature or ballot irregularity so voters have a chance to ensure their ballots are counted.
"We didn't find the level of problems that we found in any other counties that we did in King County," Reed said.
King County elections officials had not seen the report yesterday and did not have an immediate response.
A package of bills expected to go to the Senate floor soon would hold the primary a month earlier so counties would have more time to get out general-election ballots.
It also would impose statewide standards for handling ballots, require first-time voters to produce identification at the polls, require regular audits of county election departments and require a paper trail for touch-screen voting machines such as those used in Snohomish and Yakima counties.
Another Senate bill would make it easier for counties to choose to conduct their elections entirely by mail.
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