What’s A Voter To Do? Long, Complicated Ballot Could Turn Off, Turn Away Voters Tuesday

Where is that Voters Guide, anyway?

Voters around Washington state are probably saying that as they prepare for one of the most complicated ballots in memory.

For an off-off year - no presidential race on the national ballot, no mayor’s race on most city ballots - this is one complicated son of a gun.

Voters can approve certain types of gambling, ban certain types of fishing, rearrange the concept of property rights, change the way the state Supreme Court’s chief justice and the wildlife director are chosen - all before they turn the first page.

“It’s a heavy list,” said Kate McCaslin, a veteran campaign consultant in Spokane. “Who knows how we pick the chief justice now? Most people don’t know and don’t care.”

With the Nov. 7 election approaching, The SpokesmanReview asked voters what they cared about and what would shape their decisions. Many were bewildered by the wide variety of issues found on the ballot.

There seem to be more initiatives and referendums, for more complicated issues, each year, said Marlin St. John, a Rosalia retiree, as he paused during a shopping trip at University City Mall last week.

“It seems like the Legislature just can’t make up their minds on things,” said St. John. Like other voters interviewed last week, he said he relies heavily on the state voters pamphlet to explain the complicated ballot measures.

JoAnn Young, owner of a used bookstore on Garland Avenue, said she will approach the ballot like a test, studying the Voters Guide the night before.

For candidates for local office, who are not covered by the guide, she looks at their views on women’s issues. “We’ve been put down so long,” she said.

One candidate won her vote by stopping in the store. “If I’ve met them,” that makes an impression, Young said.

Voters in Spokane County get no respite by turning to the ballot’s second page. There they will be asked to combine the county government with the Spokane city government and to raise the sales tax by one-tenth of a cent.

Neither proposal is in the voters pamphlet, which covers only statewide issues and candidates for legislative and judicial posts. Don’t look there for school board, water, fire, sewer or cemetery district candidates, or details on those 21 presidential candidates on ballot in the city of Spokane.

“I’ve never seen such a big ballot for the president in my life,” said Thurley Pack, as she dropped off the ledger at the South Hill Senior Center, where she serves as treasurer. “I’ve never heard of half of them.”

Pack always votes - “it’s a privilege” - but this year, the retired high school business teacher in the magenta running suit said she spent more time than usual with her voters pamphlet, reading the newspaper and listening to speakers on such things as the city-county charter.

McCaslin believes many voters will make their decisions the traditional way.

“They are always thinking about their pocketbook: How much in taxes they’re paying now, whether they’ll keep their job next year,” she said.

Interviews with voters last week tended to underscore her theory.

Don Gaumer, a retired food manager for the state prison system, said he votes for anything that will lower his property taxes.

“Anything that’s goin’ to cost me, I’m against,” he said.

The sales tax increase - which amounts to 1 cent on a $10 purchase, could hurt business slightly, said Dianna, the manager of a Valley clothing store who asked that her last name not be used. But shoppers would quickly adjust.

“The tax will hurt us a little in the beginning, until people get used to it,” she said. “It’s OK if they raise taxes, if the money goes where they say it goes.”

Like many voters, Dianna said she planned to study the voters pamphlet this weekend so she wasn’t basing her vote on the unending stream of “Vote Yes” and “Vote No” signs she sees on the way to work.

She was confused about the charter proposal.

“I’m outside the zone, I don’t vote for it,” she said. She was surprised to learn there was no “zone”- all county residents vote on the charter proposal.

Dona DeRose and Linda Long, owners and hair stylists at Salon Grande on Spokane’s South Hill, said the pocketbook effect is a key factor in deciding their votes.

“We’re single mothers and small-business owners,” Long said. “We’re making more and taking home less. We care about issues that affect us financially.”

They also value the opinions of their brainy customers, particularly on City Council and County Commission elections.

“We have a lot of well-informed clients, attorney friends,” Long said. “We don’t do eeny-meeny-miney-mo, or say, ‘We like the sound of his name, or this one’s cute or anything.”’

DeRose often turns to the Pinocchio test.

“I vote for who’s lying the least,” she said, pausing during a trim.”They all lie like rugs.”

George Durrie, a professor of political science at Eastern Washington University, said the increase in complicated issues comes at a time when voters have less time and fewer guideposts for their decisions.

“It’s a very complex environment,” Durrie said. “There are conflicting and contradictory assertions. People aren’t sure what’s what.”

A generation ago, voters took their cues from the leaders of the party they supported and their business, labor or social organizations, he said.

Now, they take them from television.

“Political advertising has become the number one source for voters,” said Lance Bennett, chairman of the University of Washington political science department. “It’s simpler and cleaner than news. And many voters believe the news is manipulated anyway, so why not cut to the chase?”

But advertising often simplifies these complicated issues to the point of distorting them, Bennett said.

Realtor Lee Anderson said he likes to do his own research, selecting honest candidates who are “fiscally responsible, with an environmental twist.”

“I listen to a lot of talk radio,” he said. “That gives me insight into a candidate.”

The complexity of the issues may lead to what political experts call “ballot fatigue” on Tuesday. Voters will pass over the items they don’t understand, and mark ballots only for the candidates or issues they know.

Or, they may vote no on anything they don’t understand.

“A lot of people take the safe way out, thinking ‘If we don’t have it now, we probably don’t need it,”’ said Blaine Garvin, a political science professor at Gonzaga University.

Some voters just won’t go to the polls.

One Eastern Washington University student, who asked that her name not be used, said she would sit this election out.

“If I feel confused on issues, I don’t like to vote,” she said. “I don’t know what’s on the ballot.”

About half the persons interviewed said they weren’t voting. Common excuses included not knowing where to register, not knowing that they were eligible and not knowing what was on the ballot.

Don’t be hard on the voters, Charles Sheldon, political science professor at Washington State University, advised.

Despite their confusion and their tendency to rely on name familiarity or the last hand they shook, voters rarely make a mistake, he said. Sometimes they even correct a mistake, knocking out a poor appointment, Sheldon said.

“They don’t make a heck of a lot of mistakes when the information is out there,” he said. “The difficulty is getting the information to them.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Staff illustration by A. Heitner

The following fields overflowed: BYLINE = Jim Camden Staff writer Staff writers Kristina Johnson and J. Todd Foster contributed to this report.