I don’t know if anyone else noticed anything irritating about the recent election. No, it wasn’t the outcome of any of the races, it was how unbelievably slow Washington state and Pierce County are in tallying votes after the election. Virginia had 97 percent of its votes tallied within four hours, not four days, after the polls closed on election day. New Jersey’s was the same, 96 percent tallied three hours after closing of the polls.

What is our problem? Could Washington state’s and Pierce County’s slowness in ballot counting be because we still can’t pass the math WASL? No, I think not. I am convinced the reason is the mail-in ballot in our state – the mail-in ballot that our politicians just seem to love. Could it be that the mail-in ballot gives our politicians more time to see how the election is “trending,” so there is more time for the process to be manipulated and some hanky-panky to be done, i.e. the 2004 governor’s election race (can we all say, “Keep recounting until I win”?).

I say bag the mail-in ballot, except for elderly seniors, disabled and military, and require everyone else who wants a mail-in ballot to sign up each year for it. Let’s also have better verification at the polling places too, while we’re at it. With better verification and poll voting, we’ll have less fraud – dead people usually won’t show up to vote at polls. In addition, we’ll have much faster election results.