The basic voting system in the state of Washington is up to the state legislature and the county councils. Auditors and Directors of Elections have no control over that, but are legally bound to implement what the law says. None of the following is about replacing the current mail voting system, but giving voters legally sound options.
If I am elected as Director of Elections next year, I will take steps to expand voting options during the three week mail voting period. This would primarily be setting up annexes in libraries and community centers around King County. Currently, the county has a Dept. of Elections Annex in downtown Seattle in the county government building, but that and the Renton headquarters are spread to thin by themselves to take care of the general voting concerns of the big population of King County, a county whose population is bigger than a handful of states in the union. For temporary periods of time, during election weeks, the Dept. of Elections should set up 6-or-so annexes in the suburbs and far flung rural areas of the county outside of Seattle and Renton, as those two cities already have service in the respective aforementioned annex and headquarters.
These annexes would pretty much serve in the same capacity as the downtown Seattle annex, and they would serve voters who are eligible or could be eligible (after updating registrations) for the election at hand, a place where people could get information about voting and elections, candidates and measures, fix registration problems generally, cast a provisional ballot if necessary, and fill out and/or drop off ballots (vote) . In simple, county annexes would be a place for citizens to take care of general voting needs, as each annex would be staffed by volunteers and at least one permanent staff member of the Dept. of Elections to oversee operations and to make sure that all rules and protocols are being followed, and laws adhered to.
The hundreds of citizens I have spoken to in the past couple of years have overwhelmingly supported this idea, especially after I assured them that this would not be an addition to the budget, because these annexes would be staffed by volunteers as well as the already hired regular staff who would be temporarily reassigned to these annexes. Money for the logistics of setting up these temporary annexes would simply come from the general budget of the Dept. of Elections, so a little money may have to be switched around from lower priority areas in order to fund these annexes, but the annexes themselves will not be a big expense, as the materials needed for them will be light, and much of the labor will be free as a result of volunteerism and the overall civic minded spirit of our King County community. By the way, I'll be trying to lower the salary of the Director of Elections by one-half during my tenure. The current director, Sherril Huff, has been making about $150,000-a-year for several years, and that was increased, fairly recently, to at least $169,300.60-a-year, which is way too much money for that position.
-- Mark Greene, Candidate for Director of Elections, King County (2015)
[revised on 11/17/14]
If I am elected as Director of Elections next year, I will take steps to expand voting options during the three week mail voting period. This would primarily be setting up annexes in libraries and community centers around King County. Currently, the county has a Dept. of Elections Annex in downtown Seattle in the county government building, but that and the Renton headquarters are spread to thin by themselves to take care of the general voting concerns of the big population of King County, a county whose population is bigger than a handful of states in the union. For temporary periods of time, during election weeks, the Dept. of Elections should set up 6-or-so annexes in the suburbs and far flung rural areas of the county outside of Seattle and Renton, as those two cities already have service in the respective aforementioned annex and headquarters.
These annexes would pretty much serve in the same capacity as the downtown Seattle annex, and they would serve voters who are eligible or could be eligible (after updating registrations) for the election at hand, a place where people could get information about voting and elections, candidates and measures, fix registration problems generally, cast a provisional ballot if necessary, and fill out and/or drop off ballots (vote) . In simple, county annexes would be a place for citizens to take care of general voting needs, as each annex would be staffed by volunteers and at least one permanent staff member of the Dept. of Elections to oversee operations and to make sure that all rules and protocols are being followed, and laws adhered to.
The hundreds of citizens I have spoken to in the past couple of years have overwhelmingly supported this idea, especially after I assured them that this would not be an addition to the budget, because these annexes would be staffed by volunteers as well as the already hired regular staff who would be temporarily reassigned to these annexes. Money for the logistics of setting up these temporary annexes would simply come from the general budget of the Dept. of Elections, so a little money may have to be switched around from lower priority areas in order to fund these annexes, but the annexes themselves will not be a big expense, as the materials needed for them will be light, and much of the labor will be free as a result of volunteerism and the overall civic minded spirit of our King County community. By the way, I'll be trying to lower the salary of the Director of Elections by one-half during my tenure. The current director, Sherril Huff, has been making about $150,000-a-year for several years, and that was increased, fairly recently, to at least $169,300.60-a-year, which is way too much money for that position.
-- Mark Greene, Candidate for Director of Elections, King County (2015)
[revised on 11/17/14]
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