A job free of politics

Today, an appointment worth keeping

The Municipal League of King County strongly urges voters to reject Initiative 25. The initiative would launch a three-stage process to amend the King County Charter to make the elections director (who is currently appointed by the county executive and confirmed by the County Council) an elected office.

Everyone recognizes the problems with election processing in King County — clearly seen in the 2004 gubernatorial race. Those problems stemmed from long neglect of the department and largely have been resolved, as shown by the error-free elections held since. Remaining deficiencies can and should be resolved legislatively by:

• Moving records and licensing services out of the elections department and housing them elsewhere;

• Clarifying and strengthening the elections director's lines of reporting to the county executive and the County Council, officials who will be held accountable by voters if they don't fix remaining problems in the elections office.

Making the elections director an elected position has superficial appeal, but closer scrutiny reveals problems. King County is the 14th-largest county in the nation, with nearly a million registered voters, 2,553 voting precincts and responsibility for elections in more than 130 overlapping election districts, including cities and towns, legislative districts, school districts, and fire districts.

Processing elections in such a complex environment requires significant technical expertise. We support the principle that positions should be elected if the primary duties are policy-setting and representation, but appointed if primary duties are administrative and managerial. King County's elections director clearly falls into the latter category.

Smaller, mostly rural counties in the state all elect their elections director, but the vastly different magnitude and complexity of the task makes this a meaningless comparison. Electing the top elections official also means that poor performance can't lead to immediate removal, as would be the case with an appointed official.

Historically, our organization worked to give King County modern, professional and accountable government. We supported the voter-adopted 1969 Home Rule Charter, which moved King County from an archaic form of government — with three elected commissioners, many other elected officials and no county executive — which is best suited to small rural counties. I-25 would move us back toward an inefficient, highly politicized county government.

A final point: Do you want your elections director to be a politician who spends substantial time and energy campaigning and fundraising in the crucial months leading up to an election? This is one office which should definitely not be politicized. Vote "no" on I-25.

Bruce D. Carter is chairman of the Municipal League of King County.