Sue Lani Madsen: Rebuilding trust face to face

Last week’s column asserted a need to rebuild voter trust in the integrity of Washington’s elections. It will take more than better technology, it will take a new culture of community connection.

According to reporting in the Hill, belief in the integrity of the 2020 presidential election results has been dropping for the last two years, with only 66% of independent voters saying the election of President Biden was legitimate.

We indeed have a problem, nationally and in Washington state.

If you have ever received a ballot for a deceased family member or a duplicate ballot for two versions of your own name, you know there are holes in Washington’s all-mail system. It makes one wonder how many are exploited and never caught.

While there is little solid evidence of widespread fraud in Washington elections and few people are individually prosecuted, the potential is there and stories of stray ballots are widely shared. The weakness of mail-in ballots is knowing who actually voted the ballot in a system where what used to be called absentee ballots are pushed out to registered voter addresses instead of requested by interested voters.

Those experiences are behind calls for in-person voting and voter identification. Republican talking points say mail-in balloting is fraudulent, Democrats respond that voter ID is racist, and neither side is willing to give up useful partisan weapons.

Putting aside party polarization to rebuild confidence in our elections is essential to the future of the republic. It was a challenge accepted by the Braver Angels Trustworthy Elections project, launched in 2021 to prepare for the 2024 election.

In a prescient statement given the attempted assassination on Saturday, the executive summary includes this statement:

“We must, as one people, take action to rebuild confidence in our election process. If we fail to act now, we run the risk of losing our republic, and devolving into violence, chaos and balkanization backed by force of arms. We will cease to be the ‘United’ States.”

There are 727 cross-partisan points of agreement in the June 2024 final report. Every word in each statement had to be accepted unanimously by a politically balanced group of 194 participants from across the country, meeting over a period of three years in 26 workshops.

Unanimity across party lines is a tough standard.

Conservative and progressive participants were both surprised by some of the final points of agreement that didn’t fit the easy political narrative. “States should require a person to show voter ID when voting” and “All states should implement no-excuse-needed absentee ballots” are two of many examples.

The report blows away partisan talking points. But implementation of any points of agreement will take bipartisan action based on both the underlying principles and a clear definition of the problems specific to each state.

Mail-in ballots are an option worth keeping nationally, according to the project participants. Washingtonians old enough to remember going to the polls will admit enjoying the convenience even while bemoaning the weaknesses but we could make changes. Requiring mailed out ballots be affirmatively requested would reduce the opportunity for stray ballot shenanigans. Each request could include scanning a valid ID affirming a voter is a citizen eligible to vote.

In Washington’s current system, the voter ID problem rests on both keeping addresses in the voter registration rolls up to date and the challenge of signature verification. Signatures on paper are becoming a rarity and younger voters don’t have one. In the next decade, we’re going to need a new identifier less reliant on a subjective judgment about the quality of one’s handwriting in a digital age.

But solving the technical problem of digital ID won’t restore trust.

When the Washington Legislature adopted an all-mail system in 2011, the objections weren’t primarily around security or voter identification. It was the loss of community and that sense of being part of something larger. After years of defending mail-in ballots because of the convenience, I’ve changed my mind. We would benefit from a little less convenience and more connection.

Standing at a polling place with ID in your hand makes it hard to cheat. Seeing the faces of your fellow citizens taking their responsibility to vote seriously makes it harder to depersonalize those “others” who didn’t vote the same as you when the results are announced. Establishing a new normal of gathering together every four years as a nation would be a step towards restoring faith in trustworthy elections by restoring a sense of solidarity.

What would it take? Make it the top priority assignment for all county employees for one week. Open polling places in every county owned building. Declare a school holiday so all schools are open as polling places. We can do this for 2028.

Meanwhile, remember that those stories of fraud in Washington are shared because they are rare. Ballots are in the mail this week. Treat them with respect.

Contact Sue Lani Madsen at rulingpen@gmail.com. Madsen is a co-chair of the Washington Braver Angels Alliance.