Spending a career in the Navy, I'm always skeptical of voting by mail. Until very recently, we never knew if our ballots made it home in time to be counted. Often we wouldn't receive our ballots until after election day, making them useless. But it was and still is the only way for someone in the military to participate in our political process.
I've voted in person a few times and saw integrity in that process. Results were announced quickly and with little questioning. I predicted how Seattle's election would go this year. Same as others with closely aligned political views in other recent elections. Always last minute ballots found and counted late. Definitely questions the integrity.
Agreed. When we drag vote counting out for days and weeks it is inevitable that people will question the integrity of the process. It needs to be done on Election Day, and we certainly have the technology to do just that. We did that for as long as anyone can remember, and loads of foreign nations manage to pull it off as well.
That we can't do it in 2025 is a failure of policy alone.
"I predicted how Seattle's election would go this year. Same as others with closely aligned political views in other recent elections. Always last minute ballots found and counted late. Definitely questions the integrity."
Gregoire vs. Rossi. Sawant vs. Orion. And now Wilson vs. Harrell.
Amen, Mike.
You know it's bad when you can predict it with almost 100% certainty.
But the big key is to get the buy-in from the citizens. In our state, the majority of the citizens are liking their candidates winning elections, so they wouldn’t want to “upset the apple cart,” regardless of how that “Apple cart” is loaded.
Some might say that the elections might wind up with these people winning anyway, and the results would simply be known much sooner. Even if Gregoire, Sawant and Wilson would have won anyway, at least you would know where you stand as the defeated opposition, and there would be much less doubt as to the legitimacy of the election process.
I will admit, of the three I mentioned above, the Gregoire one back in 2004 was the worst one of the bunch. It really set the stage for distrust in State-wide elections, enmity of the people outside of Puget Sound towards the residents of Puget Sound, and deepened the divide among the two political parties. But as long as the problem favors those in the majority, there will be no combined effort to solve this problem. People tend to look the other way at a problem when the problem favors them.
I think that ultimately both parties and politicians from both parties would benefit from a 'cleaner' and fast system. Simply because it would put so many questions and concerns to rest. If people in general continue losing faith in the legitimacy of elections eventually those in power will no longer be seen as valid leaders, and when that happens everything will go bad.
Like you, I see real holes in our current voting methods. Early and mail-in voting might sound like progress, but they create serious flaws. Ballots can be cast before all the facts are known—before late-breaking information about a candidate or issue even comes out. Candidates can and do shift their positions late in the race, leaving early voters without the full picture.
There was something powerful about physically showing up to vote, seeing your neighbors there, and feeling part of a collective civic moment. It made voting feel like more than a checkbox—it was participation in the process itself. That sense of shared responsibility is something we’ve lost, and it’s worth fighting to restore.
I understand the goal of making voting easier, and for those who are homebound, traveling, or too ill to get to the polls, those options serve a purpose. But voting isn’t supposed to be effortless—it’s supposed to be responsible. Convenience shouldn’t outweigh credibility.
For the legitimacy of our elections, they should return to a single election day, with results that are transparent and timely. I also firmly believe in requiring valid ID to vote—nearly every important transaction in life requires proof of who you are; casting a ballot should be no different.
Drop boxes can work as a compromise, but only with strict oversight. Without it, they create doubt and potential for abuse.
If we want trust back in our elections, we need less convenience and more accountability—and a return to the shared civic ritual that once made voting feel like something greater than ourselves.
>>>There was something powerful about physically showing up to vote, seeing your >>>neighbors there, and feeling part of a collective civic moment. It made voting feel like >>>more than a checkbox—it was participation in the process itself. That sense of shared >>>responsibility is something we’ve lost, and it’s worth fighting to restore.
I agree, wholeheartedly. I truly enjoyed, and found a lot of meaning in the shared ritual of voting back when we were able to vote at polling places.
I do wish that we could return to in person voting, as it was, but I don't imagine it possible for us to ever get back to that. In that case, I think we need to do it as well as possible, and that means taking the USPS out of it, and counting the ballots on election day, not for weeks afterwards.
Oh my, if you thought I got passionate on the the presentism discussion the other day!!!
I have never trusted mail-in voting, and didn't really like it when I was deployed - though there wasn't any real practical alternative. The simplest, easiest change would be: All ballots must be RECEIVED (not sent) by close of the polls on election night. If mail-in ballots go out weeks in advance (as they do in this state), there is no legitimate reason why they should not be returned before the polls close on election day. You wouldn't even have to get the post office out of it (though we should do that too!)
The real answer, as Teddi stated, is to go back to in-person voting. AND, at the same time close voter registration some period of time (I am thinking 4-6 weeks, but just because that "feels right") before election day. This would give time validate that new voters are eligible and ensure that voter rolls are accurate on election night, as opposed to having months of lawsuits after the elections in close races.
I am one of those folks who has absolute skepticism about mail-in voting - and I was voting in WA before we made the change and all the way to now. There are simply too many opportunities for ballots to be lost/found/folded/spindled/mutilated as needed. I recall one election where either King County or Seattle - I forget which - kept on "finding" more ballots for about 2 weeks following the election. Additionally, and I know this would annoy folks at the secretary of state's office, but I can go online and confirm that they "received" my ballot, and didn't "find issues" with it, but I cannot confirm that they did the part where they put it into the machine, or that they tabulated it properly. The same might be said about voting at the precinct level - but it would take a lot more concerted effort to cheat across precincts than in a single data center.
Separately, as long as we seem to make/change holidays every now and then, I would support making election day a national holiday - with in-person voting. There will always be edge cases where absentee voting makes sense (in hospital, military deployed or stationed away, etc), but those ballots should be received by election day as well to count.
And another thing.... yeah, maybe I'll stop now. :-)
>>>The simplest, easiest change would be: All ballots must be RECEIVED (not sent) by close >>>of the polls on election night.
You may get your wish on this part of it. There is a current case pending before the US Supreme Court that would purport to require this depending on how it is decided.
Hi Cameron, how about we go back to the original way of voting you go to the polling place and cast your vote in person.I personally feel that anything or anyone in charge of my monies ie taxes , my children’s education , my livelihood permits and such is kind of important enough to show up in person for.I n the case of someone not able to come in person they are ill or disabled they would have a designated person show up for them .Fortunately in person voting is encouraged in my area .Its a great civics lesson I took my kids when they were younger
Yes, to be clear, my absolute preference would be to return to polling places and in person voting. But, the fight to do just that has been going on in my State's Legislature for a very long time now, and political realities plainly show that it just isn't going to happen.
Indeed, for a lot of years after my State adopted mail in voting, one County persisted for quite some time in still running polling places for in person voting alongside the mail in process so that its citizens had a choice. The Legislature eventually put a stop to that, requiring that all voting be done by mail.
So, yes, I'm with you, but I don't see it happening here where I live under any circumstances that I can imagine might arise.
Wow, I like this idea, though I worry that it would exclude those who live in very rural areas or who do not have access to transportation. How do you handle those cases?
I think that there are two things that would have to be done in order to ensure that everyone can vote.
-Require (in the case of Washington) County Auditors to put out enough drop boxes. In the days when we used to vote in polling places those polling places were all hyper local and numerous. It would need to be the same with drop boxes. It seems as if it would be a lot of work for Auditors to have to find people to open, close, and pick up from so many boxes, if there was one at every 'wide spot in the road' but it would still require vastly fewer people than it did when we were fully manning polling places at every 'wide spot in the road.'
-As we did back when we utilized polling places, bring back true absentee voting. For those who are traveling, for those who spend part of the year elsewhere, for those who are sick, as you mention, for those who can't travel, &c.
Spending a career in the Navy, I'm always skeptical of voting by mail. Until very recently, we never knew if our ballots made it home in time to be counted. Often we wouldn't receive our ballots until after election day, making them useless. But it was and still is the only way for someone in the military to participate in our political process.
I've voted in person a few times and saw integrity in that process. Results were announced quickly and with little questioning. I predicted how Seattle's election would go this year. Same as others with closely aligned political views in other recent elections. Always last minute ballots found and counted late. Definitely questions the integrity.
Agreed. When we drag vote counting out for days and weeks it is inevitable that people will question the integrity of the process. It needs to be done on Election Day, and we certainly have the technology to do just that. We did that for as long as anyone can remember, and loads of foreign nations manage to pull it off as well.
That we can't do it in 2025 is a failure of policy alone.
"I predicted how Seattle's election would go this year. Same as others with closely aligned political views in other recent elections. Always last minute ballots found and counted late. Definitely questions the integrity."
Gregoire vs. Rossi. Sawant vs. Orion. And now Wilson vs. Harrell.
Amen, Mike.
You know it's bad when you can predict it with almost 100% certainty.
Yep. But with proper policies in place we could put most concerns to bed.
But the big key is to get the buy-in from the citizens. In our state, the majority of the citizens are liking their candidates winning elections, so they wouldn’t want to “upset the apple cart,” regardless of how that “Apple cart” is loaded.
Some might say that the elections might wind up with these people winning anyway, and the results would simply be known much sooner. Even if Gregoire, Sawant and Wilson would have won anyway, at least you would know where you stand as the defeated opposition, and there would be much less doubt as to the legitimacy of the election process.
I will admit, of the three I mentioned above, the Gregoire one back in 2004 was the worst one of the bunch. It really set the stage for distrust in State-wide elections, enmity of the people outside of Puget Sound towards the residents of Puget Sound, and deepened the divide among the two political parties. But as long as the problem favors those in the majority, there will be no combined effort to solve this problem. People tend to look the other way at a problem when the problem favors them.
I think that ultimately both parties and politicians from both parties would benefit from a 'cleaner' and fast system. Simply because it would put so many questions and concerns to rest. If people in general continue losing faith in the legitimacy of elections eventually those in power will no longer be seen as valid leaders, and when that happens everything will go bad.
Like you, I see real holes in our current voting methods. Early and mail-in voting might sound like progress, but they create serious flaws. Ballots can be cast before all the facts are known—before late-breaking information about a candidate or issue even comes out. Candidates can and do shift their positions late in the race, leaving early voters without the full picture.
There was something powerful about physically showing up to vote, seeing your neighbors there, and feeling part of a collective civic moment. It made voting feel like more than a checkbox—it was participation in the process itself. That sense of shared responsibility is something we’ve lost, and it’s worth fighting to restore.
I understand the goal of making voting easier, and for those who are homebound, traveling, or too ill to get to the polls, those options serve a purpose. But voting isn’t supposed to be effortless—it’s supposed to be responsible. Convenience shouldn’t outweigh credibility.
For the legitimacy of our elections, they should return to a single election day, with results that are transparent and timely. I also firmly believe in requiring valid ID to vote—nearly every important transaction in life requires proof of who you are; casting a ballot should be no different.
Drop boxes can work as a compromise, but only with strict oversight. Without it, they create doubt and potential for abuse.
If we want trust back in our elections, we need less convenience and more accountability—and a return to the shared civic ritual that once made voting feel like something greater than ourselves.
>>>There was something powerful about physically showing up to vote, seeing your >>>neighbors there, and feeling part of a collective civic moment. It made voting feel like >>>more than a checkbox—it was participation in the process itself. That sense of shared >>>responsibility is something we’ve lost, and it’s worth fighting to restore.
I agree, wholeheartedly. I truly enjoyed, and found a lot of meaning in the shared ritual of voting back when we were able to vote at polling places.
I do wish that we could return to in person voting, as it was, but I don't imagine it possible for us to ever get back to that. In that case, I think we need to do it as well as possible, and that means taking the USPS out of it, and counting the ballots on election day, not for weeks afterwards.
Oh my, if you thought I got passionate on the the presentism discussion the other day!!!
I have never trusted mail-in voting, and didn't really like it when I was deployed - though there wasn't any real practical alternative. The simplest, easiest change would be: All ballots must be RECEIVED (not sent) by close of the polls on election night. If mail-in ballots go out weeks in advance (as they do in this state), there is no legitimate reason why they should not be returned before the polls close on election day. You wouldn't even have to get the post office out of it (though we should do that too!)
The real answer, as Teddi stated, is to go back to in-person voting. AND, at the same time close voter registration some period of time (I am thinking 4-6 weeks, but just because that "feels right") before election day. This would give time validate that new voters are eligible and ensure that voter rolls are accurate on election night, as opposed to having months of lawsuits after the elections in close races.
I am one of those folks who has absolute skepticism about mail-in voting - and I was voting in WA before we made the change and all the way to now. There are simply too many opportunities for ballots to be lost/found/folded/spindled/mutilated as needed. I recall one election where either King County or Seattle - I forget which - kept on "finding" more ballots for about 2 weeks following the election. Additionally, and I know this would annoy folks at the secretary of state's office, but I can go online and confirm that they "received" my ballot, and didn't "find issues" with it, but I cannot confirm that they did the part where they put it into the machine, or that they tabulated it properly. The same might be said about voting at the precinct level - but it would take a lot more concerted effort to cheat across precincts than in a single data center.
Separately, as long as we seem to make/change holidays every now and then, I would support making election day a national holiday - with in-person voting. There will always be edge cases where absentee voting makes sense (in hospital, military deployed or stationed away, etc), but those ballots should be received by election day as well to count.
And another thing.... yeah, maybe I'll stop now. :-)
>>>The simplest, easiest change would be: All ballots must be RECEIVED (not sent) by close >>>of the polls on election night.
You may get your wish on this part of it. There is a current case pending before the US Supreme Court that would purport to require this depending on how it is decided.
Election day as a holiday sounds great to me!
Hi Cameron, how about we go back to the original way of voting you go to the polling place and cast your vote in person.I personally feel that anything or anyone in charge of my monies ie taxes , my children’s education , my livelihood permits and such is kind of important enough to show up in person for.I n the case of someone not able to come in person they are ill or disabled they would have a designated person show up for them .Fortunately in person voting is encouraged in my area .Its a great civics lesson I took my kids when they were younger
Thank you
Yes, to be clear, my absolute preference would be to return to polling places and in person voting. But, the fight to do just that has been going on in my State's Legislature for a very long time now, and political realities plainly show that it just isn't going to happen.
Indeed, for a lot of years after my State adopted mail in voting, one County persisted for quite some time in still running polling places for in person voting alongside the mail in process so that its citizens had a choice. The Legislature eventually put a stop to that, requiring that all voting be done by mail.
So, yes, I'm with you, but I don't see it happening here where I live under any circumstances that I can imagine might arise.
Wow, I like this idea, though I worry that it would exclude those who live in very rural areas or who do not have access to transportation. How do you handle those cases?
I think that there are two things that would have to be done in order to ensure that everyone can vote.
-Require (in the case of Washington) County Auditors to put out enough drop boxes. In the days when we used to vote in polling places those polling places were all hyper local and numerous. It would need to be the same with drop boxes. It seems as if it would be a lot of work for Auditors to have to find people to open, close, and pick up from so many boxes, if there was one at every 'wide spot in the road' but it would still require vastly fewer people than it did when we were fully manning polling places at every 'wide spot in the road.'
-As we did back when we utilized polling places, bring back true absentee voting. For those who are traveling, for those who spend part of the year elsewhere, for those who are sick, as you mention, for those who can't travel, &c.