Moderator: With us today is Secretary of State Sam Reed, who has become something of a lightning rod for voter anger after the controversial election of Governor Christine Gregoire, a Democrat. Dino Rossi, the losing gubernatorial candidate, has filed a court action to challenge the results, claiming that felon voters and other irregularities have made it impossible to tell who got the most votes.

Reed certified those results despite repeated concerns raised by his fellow Republicans. Because of the controversy over the election, Governor Gregoire set up a task force to talk to voters about reforming the election process. Secretary Reed and former State Senator Betti Sheldon, a Democrat, held the second of four task-force meetings last night in Des Moines.

Moderator: So, Secretary Reed, what are you hearing from the public that might change the way you are approaching reforms?

Reed: The main thing we're hearing is that people have lost trust in the process. It isn't just the vote-counting part of it, but they also don't view the voter registration system itself as credible. They are concerned people who go to polling sites don't have to show an identification. Senator Kastama has a bill to require showing ID at the voting site, and the Secretary of State's office would support that.

Moderator: Do you regard Christine Gregoire as the legitimately elected governor of Washington?

Reed: I do because of what our system is. We had an election, a hand recount and a machine recount. That is how our system works. I also think the challenge is part of the system. I have not seen evidence that the vote should be overturned. They haven't gotten to that part of the trial yet. They do have a chance, but I believe the courts do not want to change the outcome of an election unless they have a compelling reason to do so. The judge in Wenatchee conveyed this in his last hearing he conducted on this, Feb. 4.

Moderator: Yesterday, a judge dismissed the recall petition filed against you. Do you have any afterthoughts about the attempt to remove you from office?

Reed: I think it's the peole's right and I believe I was upholding my oath of office to uphold the rights of the voters of Washington.

Tom C., Olympia: Congratulations on Monday's court victory. Despite the perceived divisions of voters in the past 4 years, do you feel Washington state citizens remain mostly moderate and independent?

Reed: I do. We have a long, proud tradition in the state of Washington of being very independent -- that's even people who identify with parties. It's a rare political animal in the state of Washington who votes a straight ticket. Most Washingtonians vote a split ticket and I think this election was a good example of that, where the Democrats won the legislature and two highly competitive congressional races were won by Republicans. And the Republlicans picked up another statewide executive position.

Bob, Yelm: Thank you for upholding your Constitutional duties. Why not just switch parties and become a Democrat?

Reed: I take pride in being a Republican and I've been very active in the party and various organizations throughtout my career, but when I walk into the Secretary of State's office, I take off my partisan hat and conduct my office in a fair and nonpartisan manner.

Robert, Tumwater: If you conceded that there were mistakes made in this election with respect to the counting of individual votes, do you have reason to believe that there were any more mistakes in this election than in previous ones?

Reed: I do not, but with this election being the closest race for governor in the nation, in history, a few mistakes take on much greater significance. Also, I think, the give us a chance to learn from them to prevent these types of mistakes in the future as much as possible.

Moderator: Do you think you'd be able to significantly lower that incidence of mistakes?

Reed: Yes, one proposal I had was to restore the review function of the Secretary of State's office to organize security arrangements and observe the counties on an individual basis. There will always be mistakes, and the system is set up to correct those mistakes we can improve. One step taken this year is a statewide voter registration database. We will be able to do a better job of keeping voter registrations complete with regard to voters, felons, deaths and other registration problems, wrong address, duplicate registrations, etc.

Robert, Olympia: When voter fraud has been proven, what power does the your office and the attorney general's office have to take action so this will not occur again? And if you can take action, will you take action against persons who voted illegally?

Reed: The law enforcement authority resides at the local level, local prosecutors and sheriffs. I feel very strongly that they need to be aggressive in prosecuting illegal votes, and we will use the bully pulpit of the office to accomplish that.

Pat L., Olympian forums: There is quite a "bruhaha" regarding felons who voted. My question is, why were their voting priviledges taken away? What is the connection between their crime and voting? If a person was caught with 4-5 joints in 1972 and charged with felony possesion does that mean he/she is not moral or intelligent enough to vote?

Why not restore rights to all felons of sound mind when they have completed their sentence (jail time/probation-parole/restitution) unless the crime has a direct correlation with voting?

Reed: Part of the penalty of being convicted of a felony is losing your civil rights which includes voting. In the state of Washington, once you've served your sentence, prison time, restitution, etc., you do have the right to have your voting rights restored. It's the simple step of petitioning the court and it is being done regularly in the state of Washington. We need to improve considerably in the process. It's enormously frustating for county auditors and former felons.

One thing I intend to do when we get the statewide database is to set up better connections with the Department of Rehabilitation, county courts, in terms of getting better records, and in providing information to felons that they can get their rights restored, which many don't know. One thing we're fighting is that some felons thought voting rights were restored when they were done serving time, but that isn't the case.

Jack, Tenino: As I understand it, anyone can walk into a polling place and request a provisional ballot. What prevents someone from going to several different polling places and voting?

Reed: Nothing prevents that, but they all end up back at the Courthouse, and when the staff is checking provisional ballots, they check the person's record that a vote has been submitted. So you couldn't come in multiple times. When I was Thurston County Auditor I turned in several names to the prosecutor's office of people that tried multiple voting. That's a crime and we would catch them.

qoc, Olympian forums: Has anyone ever proposed that elections and their tabulation be conducted by bonded accounting firms? The idea of having them run by partisan officials lays open the whole process to question. I for one would feel more secure in my vote if I knew that the person (or firm) running the election could lose their job or license if irregularities occur.

Reed: No, I have not heard such a proposal. We do require in the state that at least two of the election administrators are certified, professionally trained and tested with ongoing education requirements to maintain certification. This person should feel some comfort and sense of confidence to know we have that level of training. The process is set up to be transparent, with party observers watching for when objecting decisions need to be made.

Bill, Issaquah: Why did you certify a gubernatorial election that was so obviously and significantly flawed? And why, in the wake of Florida 2000, did you not implement statewide election reforms that would have minimized, if not prevented, the problems seen there and that surfaced, in significant numbers, in Washington in 2004?

Reed: First place, most of the issues about illegal votes, came out after the certification in December, but our Washington State Constitution was written by populists who trusted their local officials and distrusted central authority, so the Consitituion says the elections will be certified at the local level and that the Secretary of State shall -- not may, shall -- do the same to the Legislature. In the process, the Secretary of State is not in a position to make a decision on the certification.

For the second question, in 2001 I set up a task force that went through all rules and regulations to create a consistency with each of the counties, so that all 39 had consistent policies. For example, for punch cards, the chad has to be detached in two corners. And that was a question that the Democrats presented to the state Supreme Court, whether we had consistency, and the Supreme Court upheld that consistency. We also got the Legislature to approve the statewide voter database and the Voter Integrity Act to uphold that accuracy. So we took a number of major steps to improve our system.

Why didn't we implement this earlier? We were waiting for federal funds. The rules we adopted were adopted permanently. The federal act was passed rather late and we got the implementing bill passed last year during session, and waited on some others until we had more time, because the Help America Vote Act is requried to be implemented by 2006.

Alan, Olympia: Has your own opinion about the philosphies of the main political parties changed any as a result of your recent experience... of an increasingly apparent "win at any cost" attitude becoming the norm, rather than basic integrity?

Reed: No. As Thurston County auditor I conducted recounts, including congressional recounts, including Baid and Smith in '96, and it was very obvious the parties viewed a recount situation as a continuation of the campaign for their candidates and not as a means of coming to a fair conclusion. We're very aware of that as the rule of the parties, and my rule is different than theirs.

Andrew, Vancouver: Some people would like to see expanded use of absentee ballots or even elections conducted entirely by mail. Critics of early voting say it would eliminate the impact of last minute events, that activists use absentee rolls to pressure voters and that absentee ballots are not truly "secret." Are the risks of absentee ballots and mail-in voting outweighed by the convenience and accessibility?

Reed: I believe that mail voting has advantages that are significant, but most important is a better-informed electorate who can take time, read documents and are not likely to vote for a candidate or issue they know nothing about when they have the time to deliberate. In fact, mail ballots seem to be a pretty secure way of voting because we have more control over the ballot when it gets back to the county courthouse, more so than at a polling place. The potentional disadvantages that the questioner poses are ones we hear rumors of but we have not had anyone prove.

Joe, Olympia: Would you be willing to support easing fund-raising restrictions to accommodate an early primary election? If not, would you be willing to support some form of public financing of campaigns to mitigate to the burden the time frame restrictions put on incumbents?

Reed: I would be willing to propose that we eliminate the 30-day fund-raising freeze after the session in an even year. However, the feedback in the Legislature is that there's not much support for June, so much more realistically we can have the primary in August, which is okay. I'd prefer june, but if we got August, we wouldn't need to change the fund-raising freeze.

In my experience, public financing of elections is not a good idea because it means either the amount is so low that it's an incumbent protection plan, or it's so high the voters don't want to pay, so it doesn't seem like a good option for the United States.

Hanna, Mabton: How do you intend to ensure that all voters in Washington State are legal voters, not felons, deceased persons, illegal aliens or residents of other states?

Reed: We can't do that for sure, 100 percent, but the statewide voter registration database will make it possible to improve considerably. But beyond that, we need people like Hanna in Mabton to be ever-vigilant and to challenge someone they believe is improperly registered to vote.

Moderator: You mentioned earlier the showing of identification, but I understand some groups feel voters should even prove citizenship before voting. Is that viable?

Reed: For the first time, a state is requiring proof of citizenship: Arizona. The Secretary of State of Arizona is in the process of implementing that, and the rest of us will watch to see how well it works, because proving citizenship can be complicated, unfair, or done in a way that intimidates potential voter registrants.

Moderator: No opinion yet, then?

Reed: No, we'll wait and see.

Vicky, Federal Way: Do you believe that we should have a law requiring precincts, counties and the entire state to reconcile the number of ballot so that the number of participating voters matches the number of cast ballots?

Reed: Yes. The Secretary of State's office always does require they balance the number of ballots cast with the number counted and rejected. That's very important for the integrity of the election, to avoid ballot box stuffing or ditching ballots. When we conduct audits, we look for that and have cited counties for that.

We are still looking at King County about that. We are looking at how serious the problems could be. Because the confusion in King County is the fact that they can't match these ballots with their voter registration list and those they've credited with voting, and that's a seperate issue from the last quesiton asked. That's what we require. What I don't know for sure is whether King County has done the first, but it sounds like they have, believe it or not. They've been able to balance the number of ballots cast in each precinct, and the total as well.

Moderator: What about this ongoing concern that's described as a discrepancy between the number of voters and the number of votes cast? Is that a valid concern or a bit of a myth?

Reed: I think in the elections community it's a false concern, because the crediting of voters has been viewed as a seperate file-maintanence activity for the sake of voter reference, and not as an activity of the last election. They have military people not on record, address confidentiality people they can't have records on, so those numbers don't quite add up to the number of voters in the last election. In the future we may have to require that matching, but it would require more staff time, effort and a few changes in the technology. Smaller counties can do it now, but it's bigger counties with the problem.

Moderator: Last question.

Mark, Seattle: What did you think of the report on the election submitted by Dean Logan, King County elections director, to Ron Sims, King County executive and Dean Logan's boss?

Reed: I view it as kind of a high level summary report. If I were the county executive I would now ask for much more detail in terms of what happened during the election, because King County has some very serious deep problems that are going to have to be addressed by the county. This election once again revealed that the election operations in King County have some of the biggest problems in the state of Washington, and they're going to have to committ the resources and flexibility to deal with these problems.

Moderator: Anything, Sam, you want so say that you haven't had a chance to address? Any urban myths?

Reed: Actually, there is, you are right. A frustration of mine as a person with considerable experience in the field of elections is that some of the rumors of errors, mistakes, illegalities, were absolutely incorrect, but because of the Internet, blogs and talk radio, they were circulated rapidly and extensively and helped contribute to the loss of confidence and trust in the system. I would hope in the future that the people who operate these blogs and the talk radio hosts will exercise the caution and ethics of the journalism profession, and that will help the citizery understand what really happened in the election process.

Moderator: We'd like to thank Secretary of State Reed for taking so much time to talk with us today. Come back tomorrow at noon for a chat with Rep. Sam Hunt, D-Olympia.