Has voting in-person at polling places turned Pierce County into a disaster area?
Four Washington state legislators seem to think so. Their bill (HB 2833), approved Wednesday by the House State Government and Tribal Affairs Committee, would immediately bar Pierce County from operating polling places.
The legislation, written by Rep. Sam Hunt of Olympia, would sidestep a constitutional waiting period by declaring poll voting a threat to “the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions.” This “emergency clause” would also prevent citizens from rejecting the legislation through the referendum process.
Only two of Washington’s 39 counties still allow voting in the traditional manner: in person at a polling place. King County had planned to shutter its polling places this year, but technology troubles will likely force the state’s largest county to retain poll voting until at least 2009.
Pierce County has struggled with the increasing popularity of vote-by-mail.” Not long ago, nearly all votes were cast at polling places in local schools or community centers. Voters, some with kids in tow, chatted with neighbors as they waited to participate in the democratic process. A few voters – mostly the infirm or those traveling on Election Day – cast absentee ballots by mail.
It turns out that voting by mail is easier and cheaper for election officials. And some political organizers believe that broader use of vote-by-mail might increase turnout among their preferred groups. What began as the selected use of absentee ballots became a universal vote-by-mail choice.
Today, more than half of Washington voters have no choice. Their ballots arrive in the mail. Their polling places are permanently closed. Most voted ballots must endure two trips through the mail, handled by countless persons along the way.
Last year, the Pierce County Council surprised observers when it bucked this trend and opted to keep the polls open. Pierce County Auditor Pat McCarthy, elected in 2006 on a pledge to provide voters the option of voting at the polls, had flip-flopped and asked the Council to eliminate polling places. Even Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed lobbied the Council to end poll voting.
The Pierce County Council nevertheless decided to protect voter choice, retaining in-person voting in 2008. Rep. Hunt’s bill would nullify Pierce County’s decision, effective immediately. The bill’s emergency clause is cleverly written to affect only Pierce County. While King County would eventually be required to complete its elimination of polling places, it would have until 2009. There is no emergency clause for King County.
Rep. Hunt acknowledged in a committee hearing that his targeting of Pierce County is at least partly due to complaints from Auditor McCarthy about being required to accommodate poll voters.
In the 2004 presidential election, more than 70,000 Pierce County voters chose to vote in-person at their polling place. Who knew, four years later, what an emergency that might be?
Trent England is director of the Citizenship & Governance Center at the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, a free-market policy organization based in Olympia.
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