By Don Jenkins
Published January 10th 2005 in The Columbian (WA)
Dino Rossi proposes a revote. Democrats ridicule him for wanting a "mulligan."
Republican lawmakers support Rossi's "do-over." Democratic legislators say it's over already.
Christine Gregoire attends her inaugural ball Wednesday. Republicans may have their day in court.
This is the backdrop as the Legislature convenes today for a scheduled 105-day session. For the moment, Gregoire's win/Rossi's loss eclipses taxes, education and health care as topic No. 1.
She is the procedural winner. But her edge 129 votes or .0045 percentage point could easily have occurred because of voter errors and mistakes in processing and counting ballots.
Elections conducted by humans aren't as precise as the tiny margin between Gregoire and Rossi.
As Secretary of State Sam Reed said last week, election officials pray for "solid" victories. Elections as close as Gregoire versus Rossi "get to be very dicey."
Maybe Vancouver voters had an answer for ultraclose elections figured out five years ago when they approved electing council members via instant runoff voting (IRV).
Under IRV, the 63,465 Washingtonians who voted for Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Ruth Bennett could have picked Gregoire or Rossi as their second choice.
With Bennett finishing last and being eliminated, her supporters' second-place votes would have been distributed to Gregoire or Rossi. Those votes could have made either one a winner beyond statistical uncertainty.
"This a perfect example of where IRV would have allowed for a clear preference," said Rep. Jim Moeller, D-Vancouver. "This brings it into clear focus. IRV is light-years ahead of what we're doing."
The Legislature has never given Vancouver permission to use IRV. A former city councilman, Moeller said he will try again this year to win that approval.
Tax-free shelters: In reaction to the Indian Ocean tsunami, Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama, has proposed giving tax breaks to companies that engineer and build tsunami-resistant shelters for coastal communities.
He also proposes exempting cities or counties from paying sales tax on the construction of the shelters.
"We don't think the state should profit from building these public-safety structures, and we want to move along as quickly as we can," he said.
Closed meetings: Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature conduct a lot of their business in separate, closed-door caucuses. The meetings are like the Las Vegas tourism slogan: What happens there, stays there.
In Oregon, Senate Democrats won't have closed-door caucuses this year. Journalists will be allowed to report on how Oregon Senate Democrats arrived at their positions.
Don't look for Washington legislators from either party to flirt so dangerously with open government.
"The purpose of the caucus is as much as anything to have a brainstorming session, to be able to speak a little less defensively, a little less self-consciously," said House Minority Leader Bruce Chandler, R-Granger.
"I think it would be a little less likely in an open meeting."
Farewell address: Gov. Gary Locke will give his final State of the State address Tuesday to a joint session of the House and Senate.
The farewell speech may be upstaged. Democrats anticipate Republicans will make a motion during the session contesting Gregoire's election.
Republican lawmakers support Rossi's "do-over." Democratic legislators say it's over already.
Christine Gregoire attends her inaugural ball Wednesday. Republicans may have their day in court.
This is the backdrop as the Legislature convenes today for a scheduled 105-day session. For the moment, Gregoire's win/Rossi's loss eclipses taxes, education and health care as topic No. 1.
She is the procedural winner. But her edge 129 votes or .0045 percentage point could easily have occurred because of voter errors and mistakes in processing and counting ballots.
Elections conducted by humans aren't as precise as the tiny margin between Gregoire and Rossi.
As Secretary of State Sam Reed said last week, election officials pray for "solid" victories. Elections as close as Gregoire versus Rossi "get to be very dicey."
Maybe Vancouver voters had an answer for ultraclose elections figured out five years ago when they approved electing council members via instant runoff voting (IRV).
Under IRV, the 63,465 Washingtonians who voted for Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Ruth Bennett could have picked Gregoire or Rossi as their second choice.
With Bennett finishing last and being eliminated, her supporters' second-place votes would have been distributed to Gregoire or Rossi. Those votes could have made either one a winner beyond statistical uncertainty.
"This a perfect example of where IRV would have allowed for a clear preference," said Rep. Jim Moeller, D-Vancouver. "This brings it into clear focus. IRV is light-years ahead of what we're doing."
The Legislature has never given Vancouver permission to use IRV. A former city councilman, Moeller said he will try again this year to win that approval.
Tax-free shelters: In reaction to the Indian Ocean tsunami, Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama, has proposed giving tax breaks to companies that engineer and build tsunami-resistant shelters for coastal communities.
He also proposes exempting cities or counties from paying sales tax on the construction of the shelters.
"We don't think the state should profit from building these public-safety structures, and we want to move along as quickly as we can," he said.
Closed meetings: Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature conduct a lot of their business in separate, closed-door caucuses. The meetings are like the Las Vegas tourism slogan: What happens there, stays there.
In Oregon, Senate Democrats won't have closed-door caucuses this year. Journalists will be allowed to report on how Oregon Senate Democrats arrived at their positions.
Don't look for Washington legislators from either party to flirt so dangerously with open government.
"The purpose of the caucus is as much as anything to have a brainstorming session, to be able to speak a little less defensively, a little less self-consciously," said House Minority Leader Bruce Chandler, R-Granger.
"I think it would be a little less likely in an open meeting."
Farewell address: Gov. Gary Locke will give his final State of the State address Tuesday to a joint session of the House and Senate.
The farewell speech may be upstaged. Democrats anticipate Republicans will make a motion during the session contesting Gregoire's election.
Election Day '09 was a roller-coaster for election reformers. Instant runoff voting had a great night in Minnesota, where St. Paul voters chose to implement IRV for its city elections, and Minneapolis voters used IRV for the first time—with local media touting it as a big success. As the Star-Tribune noted in endorsing IRV for St. Paul, Tuesday’s elections give the Twin Cities a chance to show the whole state of Minnesota the benefits of adopting IRV. There were disappointments in Lowell and Pierce County too, but high-profile multi-candidate races in New Jersey and New York keep policymakers focused on ways to reform elections; the Baltimore Sun and Miami Herald were among many newspapers publishing commentary from FairVote board member and former presidential candidate John Anderson on how IRV can mitigate the problems of plurality elections.