I am a voting nerd.
Voting is an important issue to me, a subject that drew me into my first campaign at age 17. I have done a lot of voter registration over the years, as well as volunteering to get out the vote for each election. I have never missed casting a ballot in an election since I was able to at age 18, even the “little” ones for school levies and such. It’s therefore gratifying to see that my state works to ensure that voting is fair and secure.
Washington State does pretty well when it comes to running elections and voting. And the state just passed a package of voting reforms that makes it even easier for people to make their voice heard: Same day registration, automatic registration when you get a driver’s license or ID card, pre-registration of 16 year-olds are a few of the new improvements — put into place now that the state is controlled by Democrats for the first time after years of political division — funny how good things can occur when that’s the case!
We vote on paper ballots by mail, giving a person 3 weeks to study the candidates and issues. I do miss the ritual of going to the polls on Election Day, but appreciate the convenience of being able to vote at leisure at home. Most people prefer it, as by the time they eliminated the polling stations in my county, 70 percent of folks were already requesting absentee ballots on an on-going basis.
What else can be done to make it easier to vote, right? Still, voter turnout in 2017 in our off-year municipal and county general election was less than 43 percent. It’s been demonstrated that a lack of a stamp is part of the low ballot return statistics.
…Three special elections in Shoreline, Maple Valley and Vashon Island, acted as test runs last year.
Shoreline had a 10 percent increase in voter turnout, from 30 percent to 40 percent. Maple Valley increased turnout from 31 percent to 37 percent and Vashon Island inched up to 52 percent from 46 percent.
Automatic bill payments, online credit card use and just the general lack of postal personal
correspondence make stamps less necessary to life…especially for younger people. Often as a part of GOTV doorbelling or phone strategy is to get a person to visualize the act of voting:
“Where is your ballot now? When (and where) are you going to fill it out?” And also: “DO YOU HAVE A STAMP?”
It seems like a silly question, but it’s just another hurdle that a few might not be able to clear with ease…A final step that might cause a person to say, “ah screw it’ and not finish voting. (Now, it’s a little know fact that the county will pay for ballots that come through without postage. On one of the pieces we did last year aimed at infrequent voters in our district, we actually mentioned, in fine print, that fact…don’t tell anyone.) We do have drop boxes that do not require the use of a stamp, but they are few and far between.
To eliminate that last barrier and to make voting as easy as possible King County (the Seattle area) passed a measure to pay ballot postage starting this year.
Upon this action, Washington’s Secretary of State Kim Wyman (a Republican…can’t win them all) “urged Governor Jay Inslee, a Democrat, to approve $2 million in emergency funding to cover prepaid postage in all Washington counties for this year's elections.” (Won’t someone please think of the Red Counties?!) It is hoped that this will become an on-going practice through legislation next year. (Two previous attempts for pre-paid ballots had failed.)
Even though there are the usual grumblers in the Letters to the Editor and comment sections…
“This money could be put to better use!” or “I had to step over cow patties and rattlesnakes to get into the voting booth when I was a young!” or “Voting is a duty, and not to be taken lightly without pain...it’s called suffrage after all!”
Yeah, not actual quotes!
…I think this is a great new development! But then, I’m a voting nerd!
So, how do you vote?
RSVPS
1. bleeding blue, organizer (kosmail him to connect)
2. rb137
3. Tbone Apollo
4. ptressel
5. SninkyPoo
6. FlamingoGrrl
7. Gemina13
8.
MAYBEES :
Kitsap River and Charles
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Netroots Nation 2018