Update on Even Year Elections
Tim Eyman and the Seattle Times Editorial Board Want Fewer People to Vote
Last week, I took a trip to Olympia with some people who are much more influential and interesting than I am, so I had fun! My companions—well, they did their civic duty and put up with me for a whole day.
We spent Thursday traipsing soggy sidewalks and across slushy parking lots to try to convince Washington State Senators that a representative electorate is essential in a representative democracy.
This wasn’t as easy as it sounds.
Want to help? Please write a short note to two key Senators, listed at the bottom.
The Senate State Government Committee is considering a bill, already passed by the House, that would allow local entities like cities to hold their elections in even years. This would mean hundreds of thousands more voters weighing in on local issues. It would make the electorate much more representative of the actual population, and less easily captured by special interest groups and PACs.
This naturally upsets some people, and so the committee has thus been hearing from activists who would prefer a smaller electorate like drown-the-government-in-the-bathtub activist Tim Eyman.
Eyman’s sometimes allies on the Seattle Times Editorial Board also chimed in with their own characteristically flimsy pitch. After some hand-waiving about the “cadence of democracy,” and concern-trolling about voters being “overwhelmed” by a few extra choices during federal elections, they concluded that even-year elections are a “disservice” to voters.
They left out the part about even-year elections generating nearly 600,000 more Washington State voters on local issues. Also conveniently absent was the fact that our even year electorate is younger, more working class, and less white. In fact, it looks much more like our actual citizenry–which is kind of the idea of democracy.
Of course, all this concern-trolling was really an elaborate effort to distract from one more crucial fact: even-year elections would mean an immense loss of influence for the Seattle Times Editorial Board. Their causes and candidates tend to do much worse when the electorate actually looks like the population.
But a few good-faith actors oppose this bill too. These are primarily election officials who are worried about retaining their election workers in odd years, capital costs for purchasing some new election equipment, and other logistical matters. These seem to be the most persuasive people when it comes to pushing a few key Democrats to vote no.
While their anxiety is understandable, all that is needed is to look to other states. Several states have recently made the same move–letting cities move their local elections to even years if they so choose. The process has been smooth, in states larger and smaller, bluer and redder. These include NY, CA, AZ, NV, and more. Their cities are rapidly switching over, and election clerks report very few challenges.
And even if bureaucratic challenges were to arise, the notion that these somehow outweigh the benefit of a much larger, more representative electorate in a state that claims to be in favor of voting rights seems deeply confused. I have immense respect for our bureaucracy. But it exists to serve democracy and our citizens, not the other way around.
We need this voted out of the State Government Committee and brought to the Senate floor.
Please write to Chair Senator Sam Hunt today and cc his legislative assistant Meagan Arndt, and ask Senator Hunt to vote this out of committee. Chair Hunt is thought to be reluctant, and if he does not move the bill this week, it will fail. Please also call his office at 360.786.7642.
Please do the same with Senator Bob Hasegawa and cc his legislative assistant Jenny Chang. Activists have been targeting the Senator to get him to waver. He is a natural ally, but your words of support will be helpful. His office is 360.786.7616.
Please emphasize the success in administering it elsewhere, the fact that overwhelming majorities of both parties support it in several states, that it will result in hundreds of thousands more voters, and that it will functionally enfranchise the voters we have the most difficulty getting into the metaphoric voting booth.
Thank you!