We’re for maximizing voter participation – as long as it doesn’t interfere with the smooth running of elections.
That’s the problem with a bill winding its way through the Legislature. Its aim is to get more citizens to vote, a laudable goal. Its mechanism for doing so – allowing voter registration up to election day – is misguided and should be rejected.
Registering to vote in Washington is already easy. You can do it when you renew your driver’s license, you can do it by mail, you can do it at voter registration drives set up at various community events. Soon, you’ll probably be able to do it online.
As long as you register within 15 days of an election at an auditor’s office or within 30 days by mail, and your registration is verified, you’re good to go. These deadlines give elections officials enough time to process your registration and make sure a ballot arrives in your mailbox in time.
Allowing registration up to and including Election Day doesn’t leave time for effective processing, which is partly why the Washington State Association of County Auditors opposes Senate Bill 5561. These are the people whose job it is to ensure the accuracy and integrity of elections, and they warn that this bill would undermine that.
After the controversial vote for governor in 2004, the last thing auditors or the public need is thousands of last-minute registrations getting in the way of vote counting. Even in the absence of shenanigans, how would it look if auditors were still processing new registrations and counting those ballots a few days after Election Day, when partial results are already known? In a close race, it’s easy to imagine the cries of foul if Candidate A loses his lead to Candidate B on the strength of a few hundred voters whose registration hadn’t even been verified while other votes were being counted.
The current deadlines are reasonable. Lawmakers shouldn’t provide an incentive for procrastination by moving them. If someone is truly interested in voting, getting registered 15 days ahead of time isn’t too much to ask.
Registering to vote is easy. Vote-by-mail has increased voter participation. The new statewide voter registration database has helped election officials purge the rolls of ineligible voters. The tabulation process – in Snohomish County, at least – has ample and effective safeguards.
This proposal is overkill. Let the current system work.
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