Inslee decides to hold April 28 special election, despite election chief’s concerns

Gov. Jay Inslee’s office has decided to move forward with the April 28 special election, despite warnings from Washington’s chief elections officer that the new coronavirus threatens elections workers.

Secretary of State Kim Wyman earlier this month asked Inslee to cancel the special election to protect the health of elections workers, saying local governments had the option to postpone their elections to Aug. 4 or Nov. 3.

Inslee’s chief of staff, David Postman, said in an email: “Secretary Wyman and I have been talking throughout this, and this week she told me there no longer was a request from all counties to postpone the election. Some taxing districts have already chosen to pull down their elections. Others were insistent on going forward.

“Rather than postponing the special April elections, we are working with Secretary Wyman on what could be done to help auditors manage elections during the outbreak, for April and later in the year,” Postman added.

Wyman said Inslee adviser RaShelle Davis told her Thursday that only two counties —Mason and San Juan — said they could not conduct the election on April 28 with the social distancing required for the coronavirus outbreak. On Thursday, the two jurisdictions in San Juan County with ballot issues canceled their April 28 elections.

That leaves 18 local governments in nine counties, including Orting School District No. 344 in Pierce County and three jurisdictions in Mason County, with measures still on the April 28 mail-in ballot.

In an interview, Wyman said the decision from the governor’s office disappointed her.

“There are some real challenges. How do you keep staff safe when you have a 6-foot social distancing rule when you are processing ballots? There are counties that can do that, I guess.

“But if one of the smaller counties has someone who is exposed to the COVID-19 virus and has to quarantine for two weeks, that county can be dead in the water in terms of doing the election. That uncertainty is what we were concerned with then and we’re still concerned with,” she said.