Supporters of Initiative 25 Turn Over Petitions

Deborah Wang
06/20/2007

Voters in King County may be asked to choose who runs the County's Elections. That's if supporters of Initiative 25 get their way. Yesterday, initiative supporters turned over more than 74,000 signatures in hopes of putting the question on the ballot. KUOW's Deborah Wang reports.

THEY WALKED INTO THE COUNTY CLERK'S OFFICE CARRYING BIG CARDBOARD BOXES STUFFED WITH PAGES AND PAGES OF SIGNATURES.

NIXON: "We have a transmittal letter that lays out what our count is and I guess you guys will verify that."

SUPPORTERS OF INITIATIVE 25 SAY HAVE FAR MORE SIGNATURES THAN THEY NEED TO QUALIFY FOR THE BALLOT.

IT MAY NOT BE THE SEXIEST OF ISSUES, BUT FORMER REPUBLICAN STATE LEGISLATOR TOBY NIXON SAYS IT'S A POPULAR ONE. HE SAYS VOTERS WERE INCENSED AFTER THE ELECTIONS OFFICE MISHANDLED AND MISCOUNTED BALLOTS IN THE GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION OF 2004.

NIXON: "We shouldn't have that sort of problem with our election, those kinds of problems are very rare in the rest of the state, but King County seems to have them repeatedly. And I think being able to have the Director of elections accountable to the voters will give them that added incentive to perform well."

RIGHT NOW, THE ELECTIONS DIRECTOR IS APPOINTED BY KING COUNTY EXECUTIVE RON SIMS. SIMS IS A DEMOCRAT, AND HE HAS OPPOSED EFFORTS TO MAKE THE OFFICE ELECTED. THE DEBATE SEEMS TO BE FALLING ALONG PARTY LINES.

SHEARY: "Uh, we're going to fight it with everything we've got."

SUSAN SHEARY IS CHAIR OF THE KING COUNTY DEMOCRATS. SHE SAYS THE ELECTIONS DEPARTMENT HAS MADE HUGE IMPROVEMENTS SINCE THAT BUNGLED ELECTION 3 YEARS AGO.

SHEARY: "There's a disgruntled group of people who refuse to move on, from 2004, and they are going to keep crying and whining until they get their way."

THE INITIATIVE MUST GO THROUGH SEVEAL STAGES TO MAKE IT ONTO THE BALLOT. IF IT SUCCEEDS, KING COUNTY COULD BE VOTING FOR AN ELECTIONS DIRECTOR NEXT FEBRUARY.

I'M DEBORAH WANG, KUOW NEWS.

℗ Copyright 2007, KUOW News