Guest columnist
What you need to know about voting in the primary

By Dean Logan
Special to The Times

Dean Logan

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Our next priority is getting voters up to speed on the new ballot format and conveying the message that voting is too important a right to be ignored.

Congress responded to the national shortcomings of the 2000 election by mandating new voting equipment replacing chad-ridden punch-card systems, as King County did in 1998. That has been followed by unprecedented activism on the importance of security and accountability and, more recently, by demands for paper ballot backup of electronic voting systems.

Here in King County, we've experienced our own issues with voting and elections. Population surges and a growing preference for mail-in voting pushed our systems and resources beyond their capacities. What resulted was a major overhaul of King County Elections. Security has been enhanced, upgrades have been implemented, and procedures have been updated to provide for further growth.

King County's election process has been independently reviewed and examined by the Secretary of State's Office, a professional elections consultant and a bipartisan citizens' elections oversight committee. All three concluded that voters can have confidence in the integrity of our elections.

But the work doesn't stop there.

At the state level, our blanket primary was determined by the courts to be unconstitutional and in the waning days of the legislative session a new — and significantly different — primary system was adopted along with a series of changes enacted as a result of federal election reform and the Help America Vote Act.

So, where does that leave us in the aftermath of federal election reform, local process rehauling, all this concern about security of our votes, and an unknown primary?

First and foremost, all this activity underscores the importance of your vote. More than ever, it is clear that a single vote can make a difference — and it's our job at King County Elections to be sure you have the opportunity to vote and to give you the confidence that your vote will count.

Some basics King County voters should know:

• Your votes are cast on paper-based ballots that are secured and maintained for verification and recount in the event of close elections. You mark your choices by filling in ovals that are tallied when the ballot is fed through optical scan readers.

• All aspects of the election process are conducted in a totally open manner and in the presence of citizen observers. This process belongs to you — the voter.

• Your ballots are secured and in the custody of King County Elections at all times.

And here's what's new.

As a result of lawsuits filed by the Democratic, Republican and Libertarian parties, Washington's time-honored blanket primary was found by the courts to be unconstitutional. Following this ruling, the Legislature adopted a new primary law that provided for two distinct types of primaries. Gov. Gary Locke vetoed one of the models and signed the other — the "Montana primary" — into law, an action the Supreme Court upheld.

The Montana primary is described as an open, private-choice system. This means all voters are eligible to participate, but they must designate a party preference at the time of voting and only vote for candidates of that party. No record is maintained of an individual voter's party selection; thus the reference to private choice.

The law provides two options for presenting these new primary ballots to voters. In the Sept. 14 primary, you will be provided one of two ballot types, which we are still reviewing.

The first option is a consolidated ballot that asks you to first indicate your party preference and then only counts votes in contests associated with that preference.

A second option is four separate ballots; one for each major political party (Democrat, Republican and Libertarian), and one for nonpartisan contests and ballot measures. Under the separate ballot option, the voter selects the ballot of his or her choice and discards the others.

We're in the process of conducting focus groups and testing to determine which ballot format will work best for King County voters. In fact, you may be called upon for your opinion at a focus group or through prototype ballot mailings sent to a sampling of voters asking for feedback.

If you want to weigh in with your opinion on the possible ballot formats, check our Web site at www.metrokc.gov/elections to view the samples and offer feedback.

The most important message is that no matter how different the ballot is — no matter how different it may seem from previous elections — voting is too important a right to be ignored.

Dean Logan has been the director of King County Elections for the past eight months. Previously, he ran the state elections office under Secretary of State Sam Reed, and before that was the elected Kitsap County clerk. For further information about King County Elections: (206) 296-VOTE, or on the Web at www.metrokc.gov/elections