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Election reform legislation
falls short of
restoring integrity, says Bailey
The House of
Representatives approved two election reform measures Thursday evening
that fail to adequately correct serious problems with Washington’s
election system, said
Rep. Barbara Bailey.
Bailey, R-Oak Harbor, said
the measures, Senate Bill 5499 and Senate Bill 5743, lack meaningful
reform demanded by the citizens of Washington.
“We came into this session
in January, not really knowing who our elected governor would be,
because of the problems and voting irregularities of the November
general election. Election reform was at the top of the list of those
issues citizens wanted us to address,” said Bailey. “In response, we
proposed a meaningful election reform package that would restore the
integrity of the process. Unfortunately, the majority party passed over
that comprehensive proposal in favor of ‘title-only’ legislation that
does little to change the system.”
Voting irregularities came
to light following the 2004 gubernatorial election, including
potentially illegal votes by felons and dead people, more votes than
voters, and allowing people to vote by provisional ballots without a
verification process.
To prevent fraudulent
voting, Bailey offered an amendment to Senate Bill 5499 that would
require persons who vote at a poll site show a valid photo
identification.
“Ronald Reagan said it
best – trust, but verify. We must protect our electoral system from
fraud and cheating, and make sure that not only is every vote counted
but that every vote is cast legally,” said Bailey. “We must be ready to
show picture ID when we write a check, use a credit card, get on an
airplane or drive a car. Yet in allowing one of our most important civic
duties imaginable, there’s no verification of the voter. This makes our
election system extremely vulnerable. The best way to restore integrity
to this process is to require voters to show their ID.”
The amendment was defeated
along party lines.
Bailey said other
Republican amendments rejected by the majority party, would also have
provided meaningful election reform sought by Washington voters. Those
amendments included:
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Making provisional,
absentee and poll-place ballots different colors so they aren’t
intermingled before being checked to make sure they are valid;
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Requiring an
additional piece of identification of absentee ballots (in addition
to a signature), such as the date the voter registered;
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Prohibiting election
workers from “divining” voter intent and enhancing ballots; and
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Ensuring every vote
has a voter, requiring counties to reconcile the number of voters
with the number of ballots cast, and triggering an automatic re-vote
when discrepancies exceed the margin of victory.
“We came into this process
thinking that we could really do something to make comprehensive and
necessary changes to our state’s election system. It’s very
disappointing to me that by some of the legislation passed here tonight,
it may actually disenfranchise more voters, open the system wider to
fraud, and create further problems in future elections,” concluded
Bailey.
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For more information, contact:
John
Handy, Assistant Director: (360) 786-5758
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