Before and after Election Day came suggestions for changes in Washington’s electoral system. Some comments:
Earlier deadlines for mail-in ballots: It takes too long to count our ballots. That’s partially because Washington is one of only two states that accepts ballots postmarked on Election Day.
Officials have proposed an earlier deadline for mail-in ballots. That’s good.
Secretary of State Sam Reed has proposed a law to require that votes get to county elections offices by Election Day. That’s unfair because time for mail varies.
Instead, let’s require that votes be postmarked by the Friday before Election Day.
An earlier primary: I like the mid-September primary because it keeps Washington’s election season short, but it doesn’t leave time for officials to count votes and certify results in time to print ballots for the general election.
Reed has proposed a June primary, but I prefer a less drastic change. Let’s move the primary up a week or two to the first week in September or last week in August.
One advantage of a June primary would be in presidential years when the state could hold a presidential primary at the same time. With the recently adopted non-partisan primary, voters who want to participate in the presidential primary could be offered a partisan ballot for that one contest.
An instant runoff: A proposed initiative would eliminate the need for any primary, and, at the same time, allow voters to both cast a protest vote and help someone get a majority. Here’s how it works:
Every registered candidate runs in the general election. Each voter ranks all candidates for an office in order of preference, 1, 2, 3 etc. If no candidate receives a majority of first choices, the weakest candidates are eliminated, and their supporters’ votes are counted for their next choices until one candidate has a majority.
If it had been in place this year’s election for governor, supporters of Democrat Ron Sims or Libertarian Ruth Bennett could have listed Democrat Christine Gregoire or Republican Dino Rossi as a second or third choice, with the bottom vote-getters eliminated until someone had a majority.
Greens, Libertarians and other small parties like it. Democrats and Republicans don’t.
It’s being promoted as an initiative to the Legislature. Supporters need 198,000 signatures by Dec. 31 on I-318.
It’s an interesting idea, but it comes at the wrong time. Washington had a new primary system this year and just adopted another one. Let’s give the top-two system a chance before we try something new.
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Evan Smith is the Enterprise Forum editor.
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