The newspaper column focuses on Spokane, but it could choose almost any other city in the state as its point of departure. The issue? Low voter participation in elections, especially those that lack the sizzle of a race for president or governor, and the outsized influence exercised by the minority that does vote on decisions that affect the community at large.
Even in Seattle, with a high-profile mayor’s contest in the Aug. 6 primary, barely more than a third of the voters bothered to fill out ballots.
To be sure, the “official” level of voter participation statewide in the 2012 presidential election was 78 percent, which sounds pretty good. But that’s just the portion of the registered voters who took part. When you include the entire voting-age population – meaning, everyone 18 and over, registered or not – the participation rate drops below 60 percent.
The state House Democratic majority has worked to increase participation by voters in elections, the core function of our democracy. In the 2013 session, Democrats passed two measures in the House designed to engage more citizens in the process of choosing their elected officials: House Bill 1279, by Rep. Steve Bergquist of Seattle, which would have allowed 16- and 17-year-olds to pre-register to vote when they get their drivers’ licenses, with the registrations taking effect when they turn18; and House Bill 1290, by Rep. Tina Orwall of Des Moines, which would have required the installation of ballot drop boxes on all state college campuses, unless there already is a drop box within a mile of the campus. Both measures died in the Senate.