Gregoire signs pack of vote bills

OLYMPIA – Gov. Christine Gregoire on Tuesday signed a batch of bills introduced as a result of her contested election, including measures that will streamline election standards across the state and enhance voter registration records.

Her signatures on the eight bills come as the legitimacy of her office is being questioned in a Chelan County court.

“Last year we had a very difficult and very close election for governor,” she said before signing the bills. “There were problems in some areas and with these new laws we’re taking necessary steps to see if we can’t address those problem areas and restore public confidence in our state’s election system.”

Under the measures, counties will have an easier time switching to all-mail voting; those with touch-screen voting machines must produce a paper record of votes; and the secretary of state’s office will review county election procedures every three years.

Two bills in the package will require voters to show photo ID or alternate ID – like a utility bill – at the polls, and will streamline voter databases, allowing the secretary of state to screen for felons, those who have declined to serve on juries because they are not U.S. citizens, or have been found legally incompetent to vote. The bills also require mail and absentee ballots to be visually distinguishable from other ballots, and make voting more than once a felony.

Another bill signed by Gregoire requires initiative and referendum petitions to contain a statement affirming the validity of signatures.

The measures were signed a day after Republicans won a significant victory in their legal battle to overturn Gregoire’s win. A judge in Wenatchee decided Monday that Republicans can use a type of statistical analysis to try to prove that illegal votes swayed the election that put Gregoire in the governor’s mansion with just 129 votes out of 2.9 million cast.

An expected two-week trial in the election challenge is set to start May 23.

Republican candidate Dino Rossi is challenging Gregoire’s victory in the November election, the closest governor’s election in state history. Rossi, a former state senator and real estate investor, won the first count and machine recount. But Gregoire, formerly the state’s attorney general, won a final, hand recount.

Rossi has alleged widespread problems and voting irregularities, including votes by felons and for dead people, and dozens of uncounted ballots found in King County months later.

David Olson, a political science professor at the University of Washington, said the new election reform laws are “minor adjustments here and there in the elections system.”

“Taken together they are important,” he said. “It is a noticeable response to the actual and alleged abuses of the electoral system of 2004.”

Gregoire said she was disappointed that she didn’t have before her a measure to move the primary election from September to August. The governor said moving the primary date is important to ensure military and overseas voters get their ballots in time.

“I’m hoping that we will return next year and get the job done,” she said.