Washblog

On the topic of an elected county auditor, here's some helpful links.

AN ORDINANCE proposing an amendment to the King County charter to
establish the elective office of county auditor...
http://mkcclegisearch.metrokc.gov/detailreport/?key=5764

Dunn and Ferguson: Let Voters Decide on Elected Auditor:
Majority of Council Now Prepared to Put Charter Amendment on November Ballot
July 25, 2006
http://www.metrokc.gov/council/news/2006/0707/RD_BF_Elected_Auditor.htm

Executive Sims reaction to proposal for an elected elections auditor
July 25, 2006
http://www.metrokc.gov/exec/news/2006/0725auditor.aspx

Resolution Opposing the Creation of an Elected Auditor to Manage Elections in King County
46 LD Democrats
http://www.46dems.com/res/res20060803b.php
Adopted unanimously by the 46th District Democrats on August 3, 2006.

Here's a Google search for recent articles in the Times and PI.

Personal Position

Washington Citizens for Fair Elections doesn't have a formal structure. Therefore the group does not have any position on an issue. So my opinions are my own. And they are subject to change without notice (haha).

Here's the text of an email I posted to our listserv:

Date: Sunday August 20, 2006
Re: Important King County Council Vote on August 21, this coming Monday

Hi Chad Lupkes-

Thank you for emailing Council Member Bob Ferguson. You beat me to
the punch.

At this time, I'm strongly in favor of having an elected auditor for
King County. Just on principle alone, it's a good idea. More
democracy, accountability, and transparency is always better. In my
opinion.

We just had a Fair Elections planning meeting (such as it is) to plan
our August 22nd meeting (at University Heights @ 7:00pm, thanks to
Julie Goldberg for hosting, and to Phil Harrison for making things
happen this month).

Among other things, we discussed the elected auditor issue. It's a
topic of discussion for our Tues 8/22 meeting.

I too need to know more about this particular proposal. My
understanding thus far:

- It's the auditor position, who would then hire for the other
positions (e.g. a professional superintendent of elections).

- The council will be voting on whether this proposed change to
the King Co charter will be on the November ballot.

- This change was being considered a few years back (the charter
gets reviewed periodically), but events side tracked this discussion.

- 38 of 39 Washington counties have an elected auditor. It's the
norm.

The counter argument is that other super large counties also have
appointed elections people. Like Los Angeles County. Look at how well
that's worked out. The person responsible for elections in our
nation's largest county, Conny McCormark (http://lavote.net/), is an
unwavering supporter of Diebold's ownership and administration of our
elections. No thank you.

- Currently, the budget for elections is raided for other projects.

Read Andrew Gumbel's excellent book "Steal This Vote". Flat out,
nationwide and historically, our elections departments are
understaffed and underfunded. Resource starved. This is unacceptable.
How is it that our own elections department had both a hiring freeze
and unfilled managerial positions? At the same time, we're blowing
millions of Federal (HAVA) dollars on electronic voting machines,
paying management consultants to explain to us that we have "morale
problem", and trying to build a new Taj Mahal election center.
Robbing Peter to pay Paul. It's not fair to the elections people
doing the work. It's dangerous for our democracy. It's not right.

With an elected auditor, the department will have its own budget
separate from the general fund. The auditor will be the champion for
the elections official. The new hierarchy would then be voter ->
auditor -> superintendent of elections. The current hierarchy is
something like seven levels between the voter and superintendent. Not
much accountability there.

Finally, I also have some concerns.

- This should be a partisan position. I don't believe non-
partisanship exists. Not in these times. Better to have everyone's
allegiances out in the open and fight it out.

- Having an elected auditor with a progressive agenda for election
integrity won't be nearly enough. We'll get accountability. But we're
missing checks and balances. We'll still need to have an independent,
empowered citizens oversight committee. Not a stacked panel of hand
picked people, including government officials. Not a panel who works
very hard only to have their recommendations ignored, misrepresented,
or both. Not a panel where the minority position is ignored. (How we
run our elections has to be more consensus-based than not.)

- I'd like to see a job description. I'm very concerned that a
progressive, reform-minded effort like having an auditor can be co-
opted by people who aren't necessarily supportive of election integrity.

Thanks for listening.

Cheers, Jason Osgood / Seattle WA

Washington Citizens for Fair Elections
http://www.wafairelections.org

On Aug 19, 2006, at 10:30 PM, Bob Ferguson wrote:

Chad

The Council has been in recess the past two weeks and I am on vacation,
so that is the reason there hasn't been a response to any emails. The
Council is back in session Monday and I will try to respond to any
emails on this as soon as I can. As you know, I work hard to respond to
emails and constituent contact as quickly as possible, but I do allow
myself these two weeks during the Council's August recess to get out of
town and take a break. By the way, there will be no vote on this issue
Monday. My understanding is that there will be a briefing. Thanks for
your patience with my response to this email and the one you sent me
Wednesday evening.

Bob

Bob Ferguson
Citizens to Re-Elect Bob Ferguson
King County Council
8255 2nd Avenue NE
Seattle, WA 98115
(phone number removed by Jason)
www.electbobferguson.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Chad Lupkes [mailto:chadlupkes@...]
Sent: Saturday, August 19, 2006 7:28 PM
To: Bob Ferguson; Bob Ferguson
Cc: democracyforwashington@yahoogroups.com; Washington Fair Elections;
PDCW 46th LD
Subject: Re: [DFW] Important King County Council Vote on August 21, this
coming Monday

Dear Councilman Ferguson,

I sent you an email a few days ago, and I have heard from several people
that have contacted you via your office or directly, and so far I have
spoken to no one who can say that you answered our queries. Election
Integrity is, and indeed must be, the number one top priority of every
elected official. The regulation of our commons for the common good
depends on being in control and being able to trust that the most
important part of our commons, the vote itself, is in the hands of
someone that everyone can trust. There are grave concerns with the idea
of putting these hands on a ballot that they would have control over.
And the history of the vote in this state and in this country shows us
that partisanship does not depend on party labels, but can show up just
as strongly in non-partisan races.

I really wanted to hear the arguments in favor of making this an elected
position. So far, all I have heard is silence. So I am now strongly
opposed to this, and if enacted, I will work to change it unless I hear
something to change my mind. And if that means supporting candidates
that want to see it changed, so be it.

Please get in touch with the grassroots in North Seattle, and let us
know your position on this important issue.

Chad Lupkes
PDCW46

(Thanks to Chad Lupkes for raising this issue and getting the ball rolling.)

[Update: Removed reference to non-existent poll. The original email was more or less a summary of our discussion and I got a few topics confused.]