Kathleen Drew has priority list if elected Secretary of State

A couple of things are at the top of Democrat Kathleen Drew's list if she's elected secretary of state in November.

For starters, she plans to restore the printed primary election voters guide that was eliminated this year to save money in the state budget.

Secretary of State Sam Reed instead is offering an online-only guide with information about candidates for federal and state offices for the Aug. 7 primary.

But Drew said she thinks if Reed's office budget needed to be trimmed, there were better ways to do it that wouldn't affect voters.

"I think canceling this denies people in the state access to information for voters. All the voters I talk to use (the guide) as their primary information source for elections," Drew told the Herald during a Tri-City campaign stop. "My reason for getting involved in the secretary of state race is to increase access for voters."

Multiple statewide and congressional races will be narrowed in the primary -- including the one for secretary of state -- with the top two vote-getters in each advancing to the November general election.

And at least one race for Supreme Court justice with only two candidates will be decided in the primary under a policy that awards a judicial position in the primary to a candidate who earns more than 50 percent of the vote.

"There are other things we can do to reduce costs," she said.

Until recently, Drew worked in Gov. Chris Gregoire's office for six years, including three years on election policy. She said she worked with Reed to get new laws passed making it easier for military and overseas voters to cast their ballots.

She previously has worked in county government, was the government relations director for the University of Washington Bothell and worked for the Port of Seattle at Sea-Tac Airport.

She also served one term in the state Senate in the 1990s.

Drew said her work in Gregoire's office makes her the only one of the seven candidates vying for the office with statewide government experience.

"I really understand how the secretary of state as the head of a small agency has to work to ensure fair and impartial elections and work with the Legislature to pass a budget," she said.

The other thing she'd like to do if elected is create one online portal where businesses can access government services such as licensing and taxes so they can perform functions such as change addresses in one spot without having to fill out multiple forms for multiple agencies.

"We have the technology to pull that together," Drew said. "I think it would save costs for business owners."

She'd also like to see the state archives become fully digital to save money.

Drew earned the endorsement of the Washington State Democrats at the party's state convention in June. But she thinks her experience and understanding of government will have cross-party appeal.

"It's my experience, my knowledge, my ability to get things done," she said. "I have had executive (branch) and legislative experience. I think people no matter their political party will respond to that."

For more information about her campaign, go to www.kathleendrew2012.com.

This story was originally published July 5, 2012 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Kathleen Drew has priority list if elected Secretary of State."