If you had experienced widespread charges of voter fraud (as Washington State did in 2004), you might want to devise ways to improve security. You especially might want to avoid new legislation that would make fraud easier, wouldn’t you? In the last couple of years the state did adopt a statewide voter registration list that helps prevent duplicate voting (voting, say, in Seattle and again in a suburban county). Secretary of State Sam Reed has been in the forefront of such sensible reforms. Both Republican and Democratic country auditors--who manage elections in our state--have been with him on most of the agenda.
But now comes a new legislature (elected in 2006) with the cagey idea of allowing voter registration right up to the moment of voting. That has advantages for the party that thinks that the least-motivated citizens are likely to wind up on its side. It also has advantages for individuals or groups that want to encourage fraud, since there is no time (or software) for officials to check them out.
The bill is largely the lobbying product of the national activist groups Project Vote and Acorn. Country auditors of both parties--whose reputations stand or fall on issues of probity and competence--are united in opposition. Only King County (Seattle) has stayed out of the fight, though that county has had the worst record of voter problems in recent years.
The state’s editorial writers have caught on to the bill and are inveighing against it (see, for example, here and here), But it remains to be seen whether the Democratic majority will push it through anyhow. The current legislative session is about to end and the bill stalled yesterday in the House. If it does pass, the question will be whether Gov. Christine Gregoire, a Democrat, will sign such a poor piece of legislation. Her painfully narrow election in 2004 was beset by charges of irregularities, so while a veto would be widely heralded as a good government decision (and help blunt the memories of the '04 controversy), a signature would make certain that the issue of voter fraud remained high on the state agenda as the governor seeks re-election next year.
As a former state Secretary of State myself (1976-'81), this is the kind of nightmare legislation I always feared would get passed some day. I hope the Democrats have the sense to hold back in the House and, if they don't, that the governor has the good judgment to send them a prompt veto.