Washington State Election Reform Proposals
The contested gubenatorial race in the State of Washington has prompted a flurry of proposed legislation, according to this story in today's Seattle Times and this one in the Post-Intelligencer. Out of over 3 million votes, Democrat Christine Gregoire was declared the winner by a microscopic margin of 129 votes. Among the problems identified are:

- more than 300 provisional ballots erroneously run through tabulating machines,

- inconsistencies in the counting of absentee ballots,

- allegations that some ineligible felons voted, and

- allegations that some people voted under the names of deceased voters.

A contest of the election results is pending, and is expected to reach the Washington Supreme Court. The GOP is seeking a statewide revote.

My take: There's no such thing as a perfect election. And in an election of 3 million people, there are going to be some problems. The truth of the matter is that, in an election decided by such a small number of votes, the margin of error is always going to be larger than the margin of victory. That doesn't mean that there aren't problems that Washington needs to address. There may even be issues that should be addressed legislatively. But state legislators would be well-advised to take a deep breath, rather than precipitously act to pass legislation that may not, in the end, make the voting system function any better.
- posted by Dan Tokaji @ 10:35 PM