Decision 2013: OP&L Candidate Questionnaire, Thurston County Auditor

Who are these people? And why are the running for local office? To help find out, we wanted to give every candidate a chance to speak directly to you, our wise and discerning readers. Thus, this candidate questionnaire. Some of the questions were submitted by readers. Some were prepared by OP&L. (Disclosure: OP&L co-publisher Matthew Green is working with the campaigns of Sue Gunn for Port of Olympia Commissioner, and Darren Mills and Julie Hankins for Olympia City Council. Matthew did not determine the questions for those races.) The answers are straight from the candidates. We did not edit them, except to fix a few typos and grammatical errors. (Because OP&L never prints typos and grammatical errors. Ever. So shut up.)

General election ballots will be mailed on October 16, and must be postmarked or dropped in a ballot box by November 6. For more election information, visit www.thurstonvotes.org. ◙

Position: Thurston County Auditor

Candidates: Mary Hall, Gary Alexander

1.         Specifically, what will you do to promote higher voter participation, especially among populations that are less likely to vote, such as youth, people of color, and low-income people?

MH:     I’m a big proponent of preregistering 16 and 17 year olds when they get their driver’s license so they can exercise their right to vote as soon as they turn 18. I am also excited to partner with educators, going into schools and conducting mock elections so children learn to be informed about issues and candidates. I support Election Day Registration, which is proven to increase voter turnout. As soon as it is financially feasible I plan to place more ballot boxes around the county in locations that are determined to be convenient to underserved populations.

GA:      I am already taking steps to increase voter participation, including our state leading voter participation among military, out of state voters, and people with disability. We are the only County Auditor’s Office in the state to make our voter pamphlet available to people with sight disability and hearing disability. We take our voting machines out to our senior centers, such as Panorma City, to ensure our elderly have convenient access. We have the largest number of ballot boxes per registered voter, and I am adding a box at Evergreen State College.

2.         Do you support opening a few in-person voting sites around the county, in addition to vote-by-mail? Why or why not?

MH:     Voting Centers can play a vital role in assisting our disability community however they are expensive to operate. I can not answer this question without doing a cost benefit analysis.  Voting technology is changing and there will be better online ballot delivery options soon. This technology may prove to be a better option than opening Voting Centers.

GA:      I do not support returning to in person voting sites. The efficiency and cost savings of all mail in voting is significant, as well as the increase in voter convenience and participation. With convenient ballot boxes located in high population areas and the ability to provide on-site access to our seniors and disabled community, I feel we are best served by an all-mail-in voting system.

3.         Do you support having (and paying for) local voters pamphlets for all elections, including special elections? Why or why not?

MH:     Per state law, all election costs are billed back to the jurisdictions.  So the cost for producing a local voter’s pamphlet would fall to the jurisdiction. This is a discussion that I want to have with the jurisdictions. I do think voter pamphlets are a good source of information for voters especially ballot measures in spring elections where you have pro and con committee’s and rebuttal statements.  There are low cost options for producing local voter’s pamphlets: Inserting them with the ballot (for spring elections), and making them available online only.

GA:      To the extent that I have the resources I will continue to provide voter pamphlets for local candidates and local issues. I will indicate that if we are forced to take a significant budget cut for Fiscal Year 2014, I have indicated that we may not be able to send paper voter pamphlets to our out of state voters, and direct them to an on line site.