Drafter
Clerk 10/11/2005
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A MOTION requesting the county executive to undertake actions to improve the conduct of the elections process in King County.
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WHEREAS, voter confidence in the elections process is paramount to maintaining the integrity of our democracy, and
WHEREAS, the county council is concerned about the errors that have occurred in recent elections, and
WHEREAS, the county council has taken action to begin restoring public confidence and trust in King County elections operations by creating the citizens elections oversight committee in 2003, by reconstituting the committee with a new mission in April 2005 and, most recently, by commissioning a management audit of the county's elections operations, and
WHEREAS, although the management audit has just been published, and although the report of the new citizens elections oversight committee is not due until February 1, 2006, other reports and studies have been released since 2003 identifying problems with the county's elections operations and recommending potential corrective measures and actions, and
WHEREAS, it is prudent to take action now on some of these measures and corrective actions, while continuing to review and evaluate recommendations from the reports and studies;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT MOVED by the Council of King County:
A. Beginning with the November, 2005 general election and continuing thereafter:
1. The elections section shall, through whatever means it determines to be appropriate, instruct the United States Postal Service to return to the elections section any absentee ballots in instances where a permanent change of address form has been filed with the Postal Service;
2. The elections section shall continue its current practice of ensuring that absentee ballots are automatically forwarded by the United States Postal Service to registered voters in instances where a temporary change of address form has been filed with the Postal Service;
3. The elections section shall periodically use the United States Postal Service's change of address database for the purposes of: (a) deleting from the county's voter registration database the names of registered voters who have moved permanently outside of King County; and (b) identifying the names of registered voters who have moved permanently within King County and following the appropriate procedures to change the voter's address in the county's voter registration database;
4. The elections section shall periodically obtain records from the King County vital statistics section for the purpose of deleting the names of deceased persons from the county's voter registration database;
5. When regularly notified by a county, state or federal court of a felony conviction, the elections section shall promptly remove the individual from the voting database if they are a registered voter;
6. The major political parties recognized in accordance with the criteria set forth in state law shall be equally represented by the political party affiliations of staff hired to recruit poll workers;
7. The elections section electronic data files shall indicate the name of the elections section employee who verified each voter signature on absentee and provisional ballots;
8. All absentee ballots presented in person to the main office of the elections section shall be stamped with the date and time at the time at which they are presented;
9. Poll judges shall be sworn in using the oath contained in RCW 29A.44.510;
10. King County shall adhere to the requirements for provisional ballots contained in WAC 434-253-045 and the federal Help America Vote Act, including requiring voters to provide written declarations that they are registered and qualified to vote; and
11. King County shall adhere to the requirements of RCW 29A.44.240, which allow a person with a sensory or physical disability to designate an individual of the person's choice, or two elections officers from opposite political parties, to accompany the person into the voting machine booth and record the person's vote at the person's direction.
B. On July 1 of each year the executive shall submit to the council a report that contains the names of any voters deleted from the voter registration list during the preceding year, along with the reason the name was deleted. The report shall be filed with the clerk of the council for distribution to each councilmember, to the chair of the
labor, operations and technology committee, or its successor committee, and to the lead staff for the labor, operations and technology committee, or its successor committee.
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