King County Council approves all-by-mail elections

As reported here, the King County Council - voting along party lines (5 Dems, 4 Reps) as expected - has approved all mail-in voting for King County. It seems the main rationale for this is that most of the other counties in the state do it, so King County should too, hidden behind the words "efficiency" and "cost effectiveness", which is malarkey.

The Council did vote unanimously to delay the implementation until certain "to do" items get checked off their list, which could push this out to 2009. Items on the "to do" list include:

- Hiring a new elections director and superintendent of elections (that would be a really good idea, and what would be even better is if the two new hires had at least some experience in the positions);

- The new director and the elections staff must complete the cultural change and management training (those are good ideas too - change the culture from "We don't care if the ballots are counted correctly, since the election is rigged anyway!", to one where there's at least some integrity; it's also a good idea if the two new hires actually know what their jobs are and how to do them);

- The cost estimates for the proposed regional voting centers and ballot drop-off centers must be approved by the council (it would be nice if they could figure out how to pay for this without raising our taxes, too, but I don't hold out much hope there);

"The county can begin voter information and other preparations for the switch, "but the actual implementation of vote by mail cannot happen until these requirements are met," said Councilman Bob Ferguson, a Democrat who proposed the amendment that was passed unanimously." It appears that at least one Democrat is thinking reasonably. Too bad the others can't, or won't.

Republican Council member Kathy Lambert says that we need to take a little time because of all of the changes needed to be made in the KC Elections office, and she's correct. I say take all the time you need. Maybe that way, the whole idea will be shelved, even though Ron "King" Sims still wants this whole thing implemented by next year if at all possible.

"Council Chairman Larry Phillips said the authorization was a well thought-out response to an issue that has become a political lightning rod.

"We cannot control the rhetoric of individual members, of political parties, of newspapers or bloggers," Phillips said. "So I want to point out the collaborative nature of this effort, regardless of the white-hot rhetoric which has surrounded it from time to time."

Councilmember Julia Patterson said the idea that an all-mail system provides a partisan advantage for her Democratic Party is "insulting."

"Charges that this is partisan or that it provides some sort of advantage to Democrats is baseless, and it is not supported by voting patterns and by facts," Patterson said."

Oh, really? Obviously, Ms. Patterson, you have not been following what Stefan Sharkansky over at Sound Politics has been saying about this, where he shows unequivocally that all mail-in voting does give your party an unfair advantage. The idea that you don't seem to think that the rest of us know that is insulting.