King County GOP Chairman Mike Young issued a statement upon Dean Logan's resignation. It's posted at Postman's blog:
[Logan's] departure offers the citizens of King County a unique opportunity to resolve the one issue that has divided us so bitterly. ...I second Mike Young's call for everybody to use this opportunity to set aside differences and work together for an elections system we can all be proud of. In fact, I just had a phone conversation on this subject with Richard Borkowski, an active Democrat, Sound Transit advocate, and Ron Sims supporter. We don't agree on everything, but we agree on the importance of fair elections, and on the need for both major parties to work together to get out of the elections quagmire that we're all in. The following observations and suggestions came out of our conversation --
"I call upon the leadership of the Democratic Party to work together with the KCGOP and all interested groups and citizens, to set aside our partisan differences and help HEAL our community by working in a bipartisan manner on these issues."
In a nutshell, we're in a mess because the party which manages the Elections office and has a majority on the Council is running elections in a way that does not inspire confidence among a large segment of the electorate (and it's not only Republicans who have lost confidence). The minority on the Council are voicing the concerns of constituents who feel poorly served by the elections office. The ongoing criticism is the inevitable popular response to the sense of marginalization and mistrust felt by many in the electorate.
Here are some specific suggestions that would help us all to work together for changes in the elections office that will win back the confidence of the voters.
1) The Council should postpone Monday's decision to shift to all vote-by-mail to an indefinite later time when the political climate is less toxic and when there can be adequate time for extensive public review. To approve a major change that is as risky, divisive and controversial as this at a time when confidence is at such a low point, would only invite more suspicion and scrutiny.
2) Change the top elections official from an appointed position to an elected position, as it is in all 38 other counties in the state. Republicans have promoted this idea more than Democrats have, but this should not be seen as a partisan proposal. Indeed, given the makeup of the electorate and whether or not this is officially a non-partisan position, the county is likely to elect a Democrat to this post. But that person would be measured and held accountable solely on the basis of how they run the elections office. This would also free the Executive to focus more of his attention on all of the other functions of government under his purview.
3) Redesign the Citizen's Election Oversight Committee to have a broader base of public input. Instead of the current structure which gives pre-ordained slots to certain organizations, simply allow each caucus on the Council to appoint one resident from every Council district. We'd have 18 citizens, half appointed by Democrats, half by Republicans, representing all parts of the county.
4) Improve two-way communications with the public. Bend over backwards to be transparent. Respond to records requests promptly and thoroughly. Admit mistakes before critics are allowed to discover them.
I can speak only for myself, but if the Council and Executive moved forward along the above lines, I would have much more confidence than I do today that the county elections system is being run for the optimal benefit of all citizens.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at June 16, 2006 03:35 PM | Email ThisWant my confidence back?
Scrub the voter rolls, have everyone reregister and require WA state ID (Drivers or ID card) to do so. The ID would also be required to cast your vote. All absentee ballots would have to be received by the time the polls close on election day. No devining the intent of the voter, get it wrong, that vote doesn't count. No addition of ballots after the polls close on election day. No voting without a valid residential address. In instances where that is not possible, those locations would have to be investigated and certified by the elections authority. I would not even trust an elected director. I would like to see the whole elections opperation handled by a independant, out of state, certified accountiong firm.
Posted by: Jeffro on June 16, 2006 04:14 PMPrivitize election administration. Statewide.
CPAs, being beyond anal by nature, will produce a checklist based on EVERY relevant RCW, demand bullet proof re-registration and fairly often, demand strict ID requirements to vote, put up with ZERO monkey business.
Price Waterhouse did the Oscar voting for many decades without one snit of controversy, and they were dealing with egos run amok way beyond politicians-HOLLYWOOD.
Dream on-no one in Olympia, either party, wants to lose control.
Accordingly, term limits is the order of the day. Helen Somers should be in the glue factory by now by any rational measure.
Posted by: THS on June 16, 2006 04:41 PMThe rest of the country doesn't have real elections either. Look at California, New Mexico, Florida, Ohio.
What Enron did for our electrical grid, Diebold is doing for our elections.
Posted by: Jacob on June 16, 2006 06:19 PMIt remains everyone of the whinny Ponytail boy of the 1992 Bush Clinton debate
Mr Logan knew he was stepping into a messy situation when he took office Sep-01-2003
However, under the Logan/Sims teams internal controls were removed and a massive mess was created
The former president of Apple was called The Diesel but a Business Week columnist called him The Trainwreck because of Apple's loss of market share and disatrous results
The president was fired w/ his golden parachute and Apple recovered and went on to develop the Ipod
King County has suffered similar trainwrecks w/ the elections of 2000, 2002, 2004 and the animal cruelty incidents this year
Both the state schools of medicine in New Jersey and Washington were investigated by DOJ officials for Medicare and Medicaid fraud.
In Washington Mr Sims and Mr Locke were silent about misbillings at the county hospital (Harborview) and state school of medicine (UWMC)
Mr McKay, Sr DOJ official, allowed himself to be duped by Mr Grinstein, President of the UW Board of Regents, into a $35 million penalty and no jail time for guilty MDs
Mr Grinstein is currently trying to take away healthcare and retirement benefits of our brothers and sisters at Delta Airlines.
Was he a friend of labor at Burlington Northern
Meanwhile in NJ, home of Goodfellows and the Sopranos, the Democratic Party showed real leadership
Democratic Governors Cody and Corzine said "this is unacceptable".
They agreed with Mr Christie, Sr DOJ official, and agreed that oversight by a retired federal judge was reasonable
In addition FBI agents came to the medical school to prevent the shredding of documents
The link to the 12 page agreement is below
http://www.umdnj.edu/about/board/DFAFinalsigned.pdf
The question is who do you believe
Mr Sims and Locke clearly are hand puppets for their Robber Baron Master Grinstein
Do you really think Mr Sims will appoint a skilled person or as usual chose another of his wanker good time buddies?
Council Members Ferguson, Gossett, Phillips, Patterson, and Constantine need to decide do they want to have an elections department that is ethical and they can sit across the table from Mr Young and honestly smile and say "sorry, we just did a better job of getting out the vote" or do they want to sell their souls to Corporate Robber Barons like Mr Locke and Simms
Posted by: Hiker on June 16, 2006 07:00 PMI think stefan is making a legitimate request here.... Dean is gone, so lets try and get the council to LISTEN to the CITIZENS here.
We are not going to be able to change Election Laws on Monday, but we can ask/beg/request that the council consider not voting on this till later.
Partisan Bickering now will only get us where we are today, NOWHERE.
So do as stefan asks, and email everybody on the extended entry, and politely ask them to postpone this vote.
Posted by: Chris on June 16, 2006 08:05 PMI posted on wrong thread, but still worth mentioning.....
Posted by: Chris on June 16, 2006 08:22 PM