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| Charles Rolland, Democrat |
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| Candidate: Secretary of State |
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| Charles Rolland |
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| Age: 48 |
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| Residence: Seattle |
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| Occupation: |
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Principal, CWR/Keeney's Network Resource |
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| Education: |
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M.B.A., operations management, University of Washington |
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| Political history: |
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Co-founder Washington State Rainbow Coalition; state campaign director for Jesse Jackson, 1988; deputy chief of staff to Seattle Mayor Norm Rice, 1990-1993; State Democratic Party chair, 1993-95 |
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| Endorsements: |
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Black and Hispanic Democrats |
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| Campaign Web site: http://www.rolland2000.org |
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| Campaign theme: Energize new young voters and disenfranchised publics and champion campaign-finance reform. |
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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 secretary of state's role is to facilitate widespread discussions with the governor, state legislators, ordinary citizens and the political parties to fashion an inclusive state primary process within the law. I will convene town-hall meetings throughout the state to solicit citizen input for state legislators to consider. |
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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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On balance, this is a positive trend. Voting by mail facilitates voting for many citizens and increases participation. However, in order to retain the sense of community that many voters enjoy about voting at the polls, I would encourage the state Legislature to offer both forms of voting. |
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| 3. |
What would you do to increase voter registration and voter participation? |
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I will be our state's Civics Ambassador, reaching out and teaching our children the value of the vote. I will travel to classrooms and communities across the state to motivate young people to participate in the political process. I also support same-day voter registration. |
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