Print
Email Story
KENNEWICK -- Sam Reed wants Washingtonians to be able to vote online.
It may take a few years, but eventually people will realize the benefits of online voting, said the Washington secretary of state, who last year established a program for online voter registration that about 160,000 people used.
Reed also recently helped push through an election reform package in Washington that reduces the number of elections in the state and restores voting rights for convicted felons who have completed their sentence and parole or probation requirements.
Reed was in the Tri-Cities on Friday and met with the Herald editorial board.
Dealing with multiple elections -- up to six a year -- often was a logistical nightmare for county auditors and a potential threat to overall election integrity, Reed told the editorial board. Auditors couldn't update election software and take care of other housekeeping issues because they had to prepare for a string of up to four elections from February through May, plus manage the August primary and November general election.
The new law eliminates the special election in March to trim the number of special elections annually to three and will eliminate the May special election after 2011, cutting the number to two in a year. It'll give officials more time to update voter rolls and train staff and will lower election costs, he said.
Another measure passed earlier this year allows counties to stop mailing ballots to inactive voters, Reed said. Auditors will continue to send notices to an inactive voter, but not a ballot or a ballot application, he said. An inactive voter is one whose ballot has been returned to the county, Reed explained. That will save local and state governments about $800,000 a year.
Reed, a Republican who took office in 2000, said felons who have served their sentences need to reintegrate into society and having voting rights helps. The change in the law takes effect July 26.
Until the law got changed recently, convicted felons couldn't vote until they had paid such legal obligations as court costs and restitution.
The old law made it almost impossible to get out of the financial burden, because of the 12 percent annual interest charge on the debt, which started accruing from the date of conviction, Reed said. It's easy for county auditors to track people who have served their time, but it's difficult to establish whether they have fulfilled their financial obligations, he said, because there is no widely available record kept.
Felons who fail to keep up with their financial obligations, still can lose their voting rights if a county auditor determines they are in arrears, he said.
Improving the election system became a priority after the close race for Washington governor in 2004. Reed said.
He also wants to change current law to require voters to return their mail-in ballots county auditors office by election day -- a measure that didn't pass the Legislature this year -- so that there's no delay in processing and counting the votes.
He also plans to continue efforts to put new language into election law to define a political party.
* Pratik Joshi: 509-582-1541; pjoshi@tricityherald.com
