Monday, October 17, 2016

Secretary of State


This is the state’s chief elections officer, so a very important position. Responsibilities include (but are not limited to):
Supervising elections
            filing and verifying initiatives and referenda
            producing and distributing voter pamphlets
Registering and licensing private corporations, limited partnerships, and trademarks
Registering non-profits and fundraisers
Administering the Confidentiality Program for survivors of violence
Collecting and preserving historical records




Tina Podlodowski   D
info@votersfortina.com          206-419-1364
Endorsed by Democracy for America, Emily’s List, and a whole slew of other individuals and organizations I support.

Has “spent her life fighting for equality and driving forward progress.” Former Microsoft software engineer. Former Seattle city council member. Committed to a fair, accessible, and equitable voting system. Has worked for environmental justice, women’s health, HIV/AIDS issues, and childhood immunizations. Revitalized two regional non-profits: Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Puget Sound and Lifelong AIDS Alliance. Helped form the Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility. Works with Citizens for Fairness, the Pride Foundation, and The Human Rights Campaign.

Her focus as Secretary of State will be to make voting easier and more inclusive. Her record to date shows that she will accomplish that. She is unhappy that there are 1.5 million unregistered eligible voters in Washington. She proposes same-day voter registration, and pre-registration for 16 & 17 year olds. In September she revealed a 4 year old “design flaw” in the voters’ database allowing public access to personal information. It has since been repaired.

She wants to audit the election systems in each of the 39 counties to look for obstacles to voting. She wants 100% of eligible voters to be registered, and 100% of registered voters to vote.

Endorsed by Washington Conservation Voters.
Endorsed by FUSE Progressive Voters


           
Kim Wyman  R         incumbent
education: Cal State Long Beach, BA, Troy State U  MA in public admin. Military wife, first in Germany and eventually at Fort Lewis. Worked in Thurston Co Auditor’s office, and became county elections manager. Elected as Sect of State 2012.

She seems to be involved in a lot of voting related organizations, which have given her a lot of awards. Check her website for the details. She is endorsed by a long list of county auditors and many R politicos.

Joel Connelly (Seattle Times) reports “State R Chairman Susan Hutchison was borderline apocalyptic at the GOP’s fall dinner last week” (early Sept), warning that Republicans will “never win another election” if  Podlodowski is elected in November.

Seattle Times reported 10-4-16 “AG’s office files election-finance complaint against Kim Wyman” The Dem party complained that campaign finance reports had not been filed on time. Wyman said it was a minor error and was being addressed. In May the campaign filed 11 reports, totaling $30k+, 10 days late. This was not a new phenomenon. Wyman has filed late 8 times before, anywhere from 2 days to 9 months late. The PDC says all this is no big deal. Wyman says they have replaced the employee and it won’t happen again.

Wyman claims, incorrectly, that “Washington state leads the nation in voter registration.” Well, no. Turns out Washington ranks 15th. She is satisfied with the system as it is.

The incumbent has been doing, as far as we can tell, a minimally adequate if not particularly inspired job. Tina Podlodowski, by contrast, is a fireball and I would like to see what she does with this position. I particularly appreciate her intent to increase voter turnout.

I’ll be voting for Tina Podlodowski.

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