By Jim Haley
Herald Writer
The results of close political races nowadays may not be known until several days after election night, but officials say that may someday change with the advent of electronic voting.
In fact, the first harbinger of voting by computer will be tried in a half dozen counties, including Snohomish, sometime next year, Secretary of State Sam Reed said Monday.
But full-scale use of the computer and Internet for elections won’t be on the horizon of five or 10 years, or at least until the technology is developed to assure security, Reed said.
"There’s just too much hacking and jamming and manipulating now," said Reed, who holds elections to a higher standard than the current use of the Internet for banking or making purchases.
Why are close races not decided right away?
The advent of mail-in absentee voting on a large scale has created a built-in hurdle to getting quick results.
In Snohomish County, for example, 150,000 of the more than 320,000 registered voters (about 46 percent) are permanent absentees. Those voting that way have until midnight election day to have their mailed ballot postmarked and still make it valid.
But if a large number of mail-in voters wait until the last minute, it becomes physically impossible to check the signatures and prepare them for counting until the second batch is tallied, usually on the Friday after a Tuesday election.
That’s likely to be the case this time, said Scott Konopasek, election manager for the Snohomish County Auditor’s Office. As of Monday, about 50,000 absentees were in hand. They will be counted tonight.
Those that arrive in the mail today or later won’t be counted until Friday, Konopasek said.
That leaves up to 100,000 voters who conceivably will vote but won’t have their ballots tallied until Friday.
In fact, Reed and Konopasek expect that two-thirds of those who will cast ballots today will do so by absentee ballot.
While Reed has projected a 53 percent turnout statewide, Konopasek and Auditor Bob Terwilliger think as many as 60 percent of Snohomish County voters will cast ballots in this election.
Reed sees electronic voting coming in phases.
There will be the test next year in a half dozen counties, likely with a few computers set up in polling places or at county courthouses.
In as few as two or three years, similar computers may be available at all or many polling places in most counties, Reed said.
The final stage will come years from now: nearly full voting on an Internet site, perhaps including voting kiosks at central locations such as shopping malls as well as polling places.
"We’re not there yet," Reed said. "We’re not close yet because the Internet is not a secure environment."
Konopasek said he doesn’t expect to completely get rid of paper ballots because some voters are physically absent.
When electronic voting becomes prevalent, however, it will mean almost instantaneous counting of votes cast via computer.
This state moved from marking paper by hand to using levered machines. Then came punch-card ballots. Some, including Snohomish County, now use optical scanning machines.
Every time the system changes, people object and Reed expects the same thing when Internet voting is inaugurated. However, he said the state won’t proceed with electronic voting until it can be demonstrated that it’s secure.
Fewer delays in getting results of close races foster faith in the system and fewer questions about its integrity, Konopasek said.
A classic example was last year’s race between former Sen. Slade Gorton and now Sen. Marie Cantwell. It took weeks to get final results, primarily because of the volume of mail-in ballots cast in King County, Konopasek said.
With close races expected in two legislative and some Snohomish County Council races this year, the volume of outstanding absentees again may mean it could take at least until Friday to find out who won.
However, Konopasek said the election staff will do all in its power to count enough ballots by Friday to have some clear-cut decisions.
You can call Herald Writer Jim Haley at 425-339-3447 or send e-mail to haley@heraldnet.com.
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