For years, troubles existed in our electoral process but were masked by elections not close enough to expose those problems.  This year, with an air-tight gubernatorial election, multiple incidences of illegitimate voters were exposed.  Clearly, the process must be improved, but unfortunately very few of the ideas discussed so far this session get at the core of the issue: inadequacy of our election system to protect the integrity of a vote. 

Article 6, Section 3 of the state constitution reads, “All persons convicted of infamous crime unless restored to their civil rights and all persons while they are judicially declared mentally incompetent are excluded from the elective franchise.” 

Washington leaders have a constitutional obligation to ensure felons and those found mentally incompetent by the courts do not vote.  We also have an obligation to make sure that only living citizens vote and vote only once per election.  We have an obligation to ensure your vote is not minimized by allowing illegitimate voters to cast their ballots. 

Citizens’ most fundamental involvement in government is through their vote.  We here in the Legislature debate and approve legislation with the goal of greater voter participation, ultimately striving to engage the public in their government.  Unfortunately, sometimes those efforts backfire. 

In 1993, the National Voter Registration Act, more commonly known as “Motor Voter,” required states to offer voter registration at drivers’ licensing and other government offices.  Washington passed its Motor Voter law in 1990.  The legislation was aimed at increasing voter turnout, but had some unintended consequences.  Clerks at the Department of Licensing and other Washington state agencies where Motor Voter registration is available are not only prohibited from asking registrants for proof of citizenship, they aren’t even allowed to ask if registrants are citizens.  Today, because of how Motor Voter was written and implemented in Washington, there likely are aliens who vote. 

Clearly, Motor Voter laws must be re-evaluated and improved to ensure ineligible voters are not registered to vote.  Beyond asking the simple question, “Are you a citizen of the United States?” we should require proof of citizenship to ensure the integrity of our election process for our citizens.

Unfortunately, past efforts to improve voter turnout have opened up a Pandora’s box of problems.  One of the biggest problems is the disconnect between the county elections officials, the polls and voters.  You don’t have to register to vote in person, you don’t have to prove citizenship to register and you don’t have to vote in person.   

Another popular attempt to increase voter registration and turnout is to push absentee ballot voting.  Five counties in Washington have moved to absentee-only voting and two more have given notice to the Secretary of State’s Office of intent to go mail-only. The Pierce County Council now has before it such a proposal.  In a system in which county auditors work independently of one another, it is theoretically possible for an individual to register to vote and then vote 39 times by absentee ballot (once in each county).  In such a disconnected process, how can the legitimacy of a voter be verified? 

While absentee ballots have their place in our voting system, eliminating the polls entirely would erode the process of voting by further disconnecting voters from their local polls and elections offices.  Rather than erode our election process, the very core of our democracy, we should work to strengthen it.  Improving our voting system to restore the integrity of the election process will take more than cosmetic changes to this process. 

This session, I am proposing legislation to clean up our election system by making it less possible for ineligible voters to register and vote.   

1)  Proof of citizenship – prospective voters must prove citizenship.  The federal government recognizes five forms of identification as proof of citizenship. 

2)  A central clearing house within the Secretary of State’s Office would quickly provide the information that county elections offices and Motor Voter agents need to check the eligibility of voters.  The system would focus on the following:

Felons – prospective voters must undergo a National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) check to rule out felons.

Deemed incompetent – utilize court records to determine if a voter has been deemed mentally incompetent in a court of law.

Deceased – cross-check vital statistics to ensure the voter is indeed alive.

Multiple votes – eliminate many multiple votes by individual voters. 

A system where the state is accountable for its election process is priceless.  Requiring proof of citizenship, coupled with a statewide voter database, would help to close Washington’s election Pandora’s box and return integrity to our election process.