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| Don L. Bonker, Democrat |
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| Candidate: Secretary of State |
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| Don L. Bonker |
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| Age: 63 |
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| Residence: Bainbridge Island |
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| Occupation: |
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Executive vice president, APCO Worldwide; president, International Management and Development Institute |
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| Education: |
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B.A. in public administration, Lewis and Clark College |
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| Political history: |
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Former U.S. representative |
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| Endorsements: |
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District Lodge 751, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, King County Democrats |
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| Campaign Web site: http://www.donbonker.com |
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| Campaign theme: |
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Election-system reform, export-trade promotion. |
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| 1. |
Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has declared that blanket-primary elections like Washington's violate political parties' constitutional rights, what form of new primary-election system would you propose adopting? |
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The open primary is the preferred approach since it does not require voters to declare party affiliation when registering to vote. The Legislature must decide whether party declaration at the polling booth is to be made public and a list available to the parties. I will work for a bipartisan solution. |
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| 2. |
Washington voters have been voting by mail in increasing numbers in recent elections. What do you think of this trend? What changes would you make? |
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Voting by mail has proved successful and should be encouraged in future elections. |
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| 3. |
What would you do to increase voter registration and voter participation? |
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As a county election official, I was ahead of the curve in pushing reforms to improve the election system applying the latest technology. I believe the secretary of state should be open to new ideas and technology to make registration and voting more convenient and increase voter participation. |
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