Letter to the Editor for Monday, Dec. 8

Washington voter rolls

Under three federal laws, the states are obligated to maintain accurate voter rolls and make them available for federal inspection. Those laws include the Civil Rights Act of 1960, National Voter Registration Act of 1993, and Help America Vote Act 0f 2002. Washington is the 42nd state.

On Dec. 2, the U.S. Department of Justice filed suit against Washington and five other states for failing to comply with the aforementioned laws. All others have complied. Regardless of your political persuasion, this poses two undeniable problems. One, litigation is costly (especially if you are on the losing side of an issue). Two, federal funding may be conditioned on state compliance with federal law.

To put this into context, Washington faces a $10-12 billion budget shortfall over the next few years. That means the state must increase our taxes (or state indebtedness), decrease our services, or both. Already, Washington is considered “high tax” state, and that is a primary driver of its net outbound migration.

Always, elected officials have a duty to act strictly in the best interest of their constituents. That’s you and me. So, let me ask you a question. Does it serve our best interest for Washington to refuse to comply with three federal laws if that results in costly litigation and jeopardizes federal funding?

Greer Gibson Bacon

Spokane