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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Ballot system seems to be a huge waste

Doug Clark The Spokesman-Review

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury. In making the case for chucking Washington’s new “pick a party” system of electing primary candidates, I give you Exhibits A&B.

That’s A&B as in “Absentee Ballots.”

Mine showed up in the mailbox a few days ago. I took the fat envelope inside, tore it open and marveled.

Yes, I marveled.

Rarely does a citizen see governmental waste illustrated in such intimate and breathtaking clarity. Normally the pickpockets running things do their wasteful deeds farther away from the light.

Not this time.

By now, all Washington voters should be aware of the huge change in the upcoming primary election.

No longer can we vote for whomever we want. To participate in the Sept. 14 primary, a choice must be made.

We can vote for candidates that appear on…

The Republican ballot. Or the Democrat ballot. Or the Libertarian ballot. Or the Non-Partisan ballot.

This is like going to Baskin-Robbins to order a sundae and being told by some punk kid behind the counter: “Sorry, pal, you can either have vanilla, chocolate, strawberry or lemon custard. But you can’t have your usual two scoops of each.”

Losing our freedom to vote across party lines is plenty aggravating. But for absentee voters like me there is an additional cause for concern.

Let me quote from the step-by-step instructions sent to Spokane County absentee voters in a postcard that was mailed separately from the aforementioned ballots.

Step 1 – “You must choose one (1) of four (4) ballots.”

Step 2 – “Vote one (1) of four (4) ballots.

Step 3 – “Then discard the other three (3) ballots.”

I’m sorry. You want me to do what?

In case of confusion, whoever designed the instructional postcard added a can’t-miss illustration to the right of Step 3.

A trash basket.

Before going any farther, I must make a confession.

I’m not the most environmentally aware guy. The Sierra Club won’t be giving me any medals for my efforts to save the planet.

I toss my empty Diet Coke cans in the garbage along with egg shells and used napkins. I drive a 1960s station wagon that guzzles gas faster than Dean Martin guzzled martinis.

I burn wood. I leave the lights on.

Even so, this absentee ballot boondoggle makes me want to shriek like a Green Peace activist at a baby seal bash.

Wake up, people! Our taxes paid for this mountain of wasted paper.

Mountain is right. As of Wednesday, Spokane County had 126,000 residents who vote by absentee. This form of voting has become quite popular, accounting for 52 percent of our voting.

So let’s do the math: 126,000 x 3 junked ballots = 378,000 throwaways.

Toss in the postcards and – voila! – we’re up to more than a half-million pieces of wasted paper. And that doesn’t take into account the rest of the state.

I got these figures by calling the Spokane County Auditor’s Office, which oversees our elections.

Please. Don’t blame these people.

They’re trying their best to follow this new primary voting scam that was, A) mandated by the federal courts, B) designed by the Legislature and C) selected by the governor.

Call me jaded. But anytime you get this much government involved in creating something, the result is bound to be more unappealing than Frankenstein’s monster.

The nice lady I spoke with at the Auditor’s Office sounded as outraged as I am by all the paper waste. “Stupid” was the word she used to sum up the situation. She forwarded me to Juli Boone, who has managed the county’s absentee voting since 1991.

“I can say I agree with you as a voter,” said Boone, “but I don’t want to get too opinionated here.”

Getting opinionated is about the only thing we can do at this point.

The designer of that postcard instructional at least got one thing right. This new primary system belongs in a trash basket.