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SEATTLE WEEKLY, NOV. 23, 2000
Published: January 18, 2001
'Election reform hero: Dave
Schmidt'
"Vote for common sense"
By
Sam Trout
 Washington state needs a hero: So we'll nominate State Representative Dave Schmidt.
The Bothell Republican has already established himself as the voice of common sense in Olympia on the topic of election reform. Now, thanks to our chaotic national election, he just may get some much-deserved support from his colleagues.
Schmidt wants the state to address the growing percentage of permanent absentee voters. "We're approaching the point where about 45 percent of the general election ballot is cast by mail," he says, yet our state clings to the outdated concept that absentee ballots can be posted through Election Day. This means that important statewide contests (most recently, this year's Slade Gorton/Maria Cantwell US Senate race and the Sam Reed/Don Bonker battle for secretary of state) drag on for two weeks after the election without a clear victor.
These vote-counting delays pose even bigger problems in the primary election, with just over six weeks separating Washington state's mid-September primary from the November final election.
Schmidt has two commonsense solutions: Require absentee ballots to be postmarked on or before the Friday preceding the election, and move our primary election to the second week of August. He points out that absentee voters who miss the mailing deadline could simply hand-carry their ballot to the polls. And concerns that a summer primary election could lead to lower turnouts simply haven't panned out in other states.
Given the evidence, it's hard to believe that Schmidt's reforms haven't been instituted; his absentee ballot bill was twice approved by the state House of Representatives but died in the Senate both times. "There's a lot of sacred cows in the Legislature, and tradition is hard to change," he says. But, Schmidt adds, the brutal criticism faced by Florida election regulators from the national media should help convince his colleagues this time around.
"All you've got to do," he says, "is bring up the question, 'What would it be like if the spotlight was on us?'"
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