Voters promised smoother process

OLYMPIA -- The state's last governor's race ended in controversy, with three counts, a court challenge, and the issue of election reform quickly jumping to the forefront.

Four years later, the secretary of state is assuring voters that "voter rolls are the cleanest they have ever been" as voters cast ballots in the long-anticipated rematch between Republican Dino Rossi and Gov. Chris Gregoire.

Their first tally in 2004 was decided by just 129 votes out of 2.9 million cast.

Two recounts followed, both in Rossi's favor. A third hand count, paid for by state Democrats, put Gregoire ahead. Rossi sued; Gregoire was inaugurated as the state's second female governor; and for months the outcome was drawn out in a court challenge east of the mountains.

In the end, Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges refused to nullify Gregoire's narrow victory, denying Republicans' claims that election errors, illegal voters and fraud stole the election from Rossi. The judge threw out four illegally cast votes for Rossi, which raised Gregoire's margin of victory to 133.

But before that decision was even handed down, the Legislature quickly moved on election reform, wanting to erase any specter of doubt in the state's election system. Nearly 70 percent of people polled by independent pollster Stuart Elway said their confidence in the process had decreased as a result of the 2004 election.

"The changes that have been made take us a long way for people to feel good and confident about it," Gregoire said.

In the general election voters pamphlet that will be sent to voters next month, a letter from Secretary of State Sam Reed reads, "I want to assure you that our elections process has seen dramatic improvement since 2004, when we had the closest race for governor in history, and unprecedented scrutiny."

Reed notes there have been 180 changes to state election law and 1,100 administrative rule changes, "all designed to give you confidence in the accuracy and integrity of this process we all hold dear."

Most of the changes involved small technical changes like rules on the recount process. Others are more significant, such as the requirement that counties make sure that the number of votes they count is the same as those that were cast, and another law that requires the Secretary of State's Office to review county election procedures every three years.

"These measures are designed to make the system better, but they're also designed to improve voter trust and confidence in the system," said state Elections Director Nick Handy.

The biggest improvement is the implementation of the statewide voter database that consolidated all 39 separate county systems into one database in January 2006.

The database brought the state into compliance with the 2002 Help America Vote Act, which required better voting systems, improved voter access and statewide voter registration lists by Jan. 1, 2006.

Since 2006, more than 450,000 voter registrations were canceled; of those, nearly 95,000 were ineligible felons or dead, and almost 55,000 were canceled because they duplicated registrations that already existed. The rest were people who moved out of state, asked to be removed, or had not voted in the years covering two federal general elections.

The issue of felon voters was one of the biggest concerns in the Rossi camp in 2004.

While the judge found that 1,678 illegal votes were cast in the election, he said there was no evidence of how those illegal voters marked their ballots.

Discrepancies in the number of ballots cast in 10 counties, including the state's largest, King County, led to speculation that something was amiss.

King County, which holds about one-third of the state's voters, came under the toughest scrutiny, as it found hundreds of previously uncounted ballots during the recount process.

The county underwent four audits after the election, and dozens of changes were made in everything from administrative to processing procedures, said King County elections spokeswoman Bobbie Egan. In addition, the county consolidated four elections locations into one new 94,000-square-foot election office in Renton.

"There are procedures in place to prevent the mistakes in '04 from happening again," Egan said. "The comparison of the organization we were and where we are today is night and day."

But the bad feelings from 2004 still linger four years later. The Building Industry Association of Washington, a backer of Rossi, put up 61 billboards in Eastern Washington that read, "Don't Let Seattle Steal This Election."

The billboards tap into an anger that still exists among Rossi supporters who feel that he won the first time around. BIAW Executive Vice President Tom McCabe denied those connotations, instead saying that the signs are meant to let Eastern Washington voters know that they didn't turn out and vote in the same percentages as King County did in 2004.

"Everyone can have their own opinion on what the sign means or doesn't mean," he said, but added, "I don't think there's anything wrong with reminding voters about what happened."

Gregoire called the signs "highly unfortunate."

"I have worked hard to unite the state and here we have a sign that says 'divide us east and west.' "

Rossi's campaign staffers distanced themselves from the signs, saying that they didn't agree with the message.

But Rossi said he understands the sentiment.

"I understand why people feel this way, which is why I want to reassure them," he said. "I don't want anyone to think their vote doesn't count."

Rossi said that the combination of the voter database, coupled with recent prosecutions by King County against voter-registration fraud cases, make him more confident in the system.

"It's a much more level playing field than we were on before," he said. "Is it perfect? I don't know. But is it better than it used to be? Absolutely."