Washington: Challenger Podlodowski discovers open door into state’s voter database | Seattle Post Intelligencer

A yawning back-end pathway into the state’s voter registration database, through which private information could have been accessed, has been closed, thanks to the candidate challenging Secretary of State Kim Wyman. “Anyone with basic programming skills and knowledge about these weaknesses could conceivably (access) this data, look up and harvest private data from millions of Washingtonians,” Tina Podlodowski wrote Wednesday to the state’s chief information security officer (CISO). The information accessible via the back-end pathway included voters’ personal cell phone numbers, personal email addresses, ballot delivery types, and the coding used to message military and overseas voters.
Wyman’s office, without mentioning Podlodowski, put out a release Friday, saying: “The situation has been quickly rectified.” David Ammons, chief communications office for the secretary of state, later confirmed that the problem was first identified in a letter from Podlodowski.

Washington: State’s jails fail to provide voting access, report says | Associated Press

While most of the country is actively engaged in the election process, an entire class of individuals — inmates in Washington state jails — can’t participate because the officials charged with overseeing them have failed to provide the tools and information needed to make that happen, according to a new report. An investigation by Disability Rights Washington found only a handful of Washington state’s 38 county jails have a policy for facilitating the voting process for inmates and few of those facilities actually follow those procedures, the report said. The result: Thousands of citizens who have the constitutional right to vote are not able to register, receive ballots or cast a vote, the report said. Unlike prison inmates, who generally have felony convictions and have lost their voting rights, most jail inmates are awaiting trial or have been found guilty of a misdemeanor charge, so they maintain their voting rights.

Washington: Final bill for ACLU case to cost Yakima County $3 million | Yakima Herald

The final invoices are in, the ACLU has been awarded costs and fees, and Yakima is out $3 million as the book closes on its long-running voting rights battle in federal court. From 2012 through April of this year, the city spent $1,167,552 on attorney fees and expert witness costs, according to records obtained from the city. With $1,846,014 paid to the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union under a court order, Yakima’s final costs in the case are at $3,013,566. City legal staff said they do not anticipate more costs, although population changes in the years to come could lead to redistricting adjustments that may require legal services.

Washington: Yakima City Council abandons appeal of ACLU voting rights suit | Yakima Herald

The Yakima City Council unanimously ended a four-year fight Tuesday over how the city elects its representatives by ending its appeal of a voting rights lawsuit with the American Civil Liberties Union. In a 6-0 vote, with Councilwoman Maureen Adkison absent, the council withdrew its appeal to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, ending a case it had spent more than $1.1 million defending and will now pay the ACLU $1.8 million as part of a federal court order. “This is a $3 million reminder” that all residents should have a say in who represents them,” Mayor Avina Gutierrez said.

Washington: Yakima City Council moves toward abandoning appeal of ACLU lawsuit over election districts | Yakima Herald

The Yakima City Council has scheduled an April vote in which it is expected to rescind its appeal of the American Civil Liberties Union voting rights lawsuit that changed elections last year. The council voted 5-1 to put the issue on the April 5 agenda, with Councilwoman Kathy Coffey opposed and Councilman Bill Lover absent. After a brief executive session following the vote, Coffey announced that her concerns about the proposal were answered and that she too would support it.

Washington: Voters could get $150 to give to candidates under proposed initiative | The Seattle Times

Washington voters would be allowed to make $150 in taxpayer-funded donations to legislative candidates every two years under a state initiative proposal preparing to launch this week. Backers of the measure, aimed at the November 2016 ballot, say it would curb the influence of moneyed special interests by creating the new public campaign-financing system, modeled in part on a “Democracy vouchers” initiative approved by Seattle voters last year. While some details are still being finalized, supporters of the Washington Government Accountability Act, calling themselves Integrity Washington, have raised $250,000 from two out-of-state nonprofit groups and put down a $100,000 deposit toward a paid signature-gathering campaign.

Washington: State Voting Rights Act likely dead again this year | Yakima Herald

A state Voting Rights Act bill that has passed the House two years in a row will again not make it out of the Senate. Senate Republican leaders said earlier this week there were negotiations on the bill through last Friday, but they failed to reach a compromise. Senate Majority Leader Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, said the sole focus now is passing a supplemental budget to fund government through the 2015-17 biennium. “I think right now all of the bandwidth is focused on getting the three budgets out of here because that is the one thing we do really need to do that we all agree on,” Schoesler said at a news conference Tuesday in Olympia. Gov. Jay Inslee called the Legislature into an immediate special session Thursday night when no budget had emerged.

Washington: Voting rights bill gains support in state Senate | Yakima Herald

A proposed state Voting Rights Act that has languished for years in Olympia now appears to have bipartisan support in the Senate. For four years Rep. Luis Moscoso, D-Mountlake Terrace, has led the effort in the House to pass the law he says would make it easier to avoid costly court battles over local voting rights. Yakima’s expensive years-long case with the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is the prime example cited by supporters in the House, where the bill passed earlier this month on a 50-47 vote. No Central Washington lawmakers supported the measure.

Washington: Bill seeks partial automatic voter registration | Associated Press

Months after Washington state saw record low voter turnout, several lawmakers and Secretary of State Kim Wyman say they want to help increase engagement with automatic voter registration for some. Two measures, SB 6379 and HB 2682, would automatically register people who aren’t on the voter rolls but already have or apply for an enhanced driver’s license or commercial driver’s licenses. Those who receive social services that verify citizenship or get health insurance through the state health exchange also would be automatically registered. The measure would take effect Jan 1. 2017, and be retroactive so that unregistered voters who already have the specialized driver licenses or benefits would have their information sent to the secretary of state’s office, which would notify them that they can opt out. If the potential voter doesn’t respond, he or she will be automatically registered within 60 days.

Washington: State Voting Rights Act passes House: Will Senate ever vote on it? | Seattle Post Intelligencer

The Washington Voting Rights Act is designed to open up democracy in local government, but it has been shut down for three years in the Washington State Senate. On Thursday, the Democratic-controlled House of Representative passed the WVRA for the fourth consecutive year, on a party line 50-47 vote. It now goes to the Republican-run Senate, where in past years the Rules Committee has refused a floor vote. The legislation gives counties, cities and towns the authority to negotiate election changes, specifically to move from at-large voting to a system of districts. (Seattle moved to district voting last year for seven of its nine City Council seats.) The legislation is prompted by Eastern Washington counties in which the population is now 30-50 percent Hispanic, but where at-large voting has kept the growing minority from winning council and school board seats.

Washington: ‘Democracy vouchers’ win; first in country | The Seattle Times

The way candidates’ campaigns are financed in Seattle dramatically changed Tuesday night. Initiative 122 took a 20 percentage point lead in first-day returns, which makes Seattle the nation’s first jurisdiction to try taxpayer-funded “democracy vouchers.” “Seattle leads the nation, first on $15 an hour and now on campaign-finance reform. We look forward to seeing more cities and states implementing their own local solutions to the problem of big money in politics,” said Heather Weiner, I-122 spokeswoman.

Washington: Seattle Voters Take Aim at Big Money in Politics | Al Jazeera

Running for re-election, Seattle City Council Member Mike O’Brien knows firsthand that the campaign chase for donors is often at odds with the hunt for votes. “Most candidates spend about 10-15 hours a week on the phone dialing for dollars,” he estimates. “You start by looking up the people who can write the big checks. Often they aren’t even in your district and can’t even vote for you but they have the capacity to finance your election.” In the 2013 election two-thirds of all of the money raised by Seattle candidates came from just 0.3 percent of the city’s residents, according to a report by the Sightline Institute, a nonprofit think tank. This makes for heavy competition as dozens of candidates try to appeal to a very narrow slice of the electorate. “Of course everyone else is calling those same people so you’re fighting with other candidates whether they’re in your race or not, to convince the donors that you’re their guy and they should write you a check,” O’Brien said.

Washington: King County acknowledges using cardboard boxes to collect ballots | King 5 News

King County Elections Director Sherill Huff acknowledged Friday that she approved use of a temporary, cardboard ballot box for a recent “voting party.” The box was used during a party, attended by the governor, mayor and political candidates and hosted by “The Stranger.” Huff says the agency supplied the box, which was not handled by elections staffers, after “The Stranger” asked for it. She says it is an effort to encourage more people to get out to vote. The boxes, as shown by Huff, include protective straps. Huff added that the ballots were delivered properly to her agency and believes it could be a tool to build turnout in the future. “We’re encouraging people to vote, people to have their friends and neighbors vote and this was a part of that effort, that I believed would be a start for that,” said Huff. “It turned out it was a wonderful event.”

Washington: Latino Voters Are Making History in Yakima, Washington | Huffington Post

Around the nation, voting rights for people of color are under attack. But in central Washington, an historic advance for Latino voters is taking place in the wake of a legal victory by the ACLU. In the City of Yakima, Latinos account for approximately one-third of the voting-age population and approximately one-quarter of its citizen voting-age population. Yet, in 37 years, no Latino has ever been elected to the Yakima City Council. In the absence of Latino representation on the City Council, issues of interest to the Latino community in Yakima have been met with indifference. Now things are changing in this agricultural community of 93,000. Five Latino City Council candidates are on the ballot in Yakima’s November general election. Two of the five candidates are running in the same district, so that district is certain to have a Latino representative. However, it is possible that one, two or three other Latinos may also be elected.

Washington: Seattle initiative puts spotlight on campaign financing | The Seattle Times

Proponents of Seattle Initiative 122 say large companies and wealthy individuals are increasingly using their money to push regular people out of the political process. They say Honest Elections Seattle would push back — by giving every registered voter in the city “democracy vouchers” to spend on candidate campaigns. The Nov. 3 ballot measure would authorize a 10-year, $30 million property-tax levy to pay for the vouchers while tightening rules for campaign contributions and lobbying. Seattle would be the first jurisdiction in the country to have such a voucher system.

Washington: State adopts opposing stance from Yakima in redistricting case | Yakima Herald

Yakima and the state of Washington are on opposing sides in a U.S. Supreme Court case seeking to define “one person, one vote.” The state Attorney General’s Office has joined 20 other states in filing a friend-of-the-court brief opposing the plaintiffs in Evenwel v. Abbott, a Texas redistricting case that could in effect overturn Yakima’s new district-based council election system. Yakima previously filed a brief in support of the plaintiffs, who are seeking to require state legislative districts be drawn by eligible voter population and not total population, as is currently the practice in all 50 states. The brief filed by the 21 states in opposition to Evenwel says requiring states to redistrict based on eligible voters would disrupt their “long reliance on well-settled redistricting practices,” adding that states lack any “reliable, administrable method” to carry out such a process.

Washington: Yakima Urges High Court to Overturn Election District Makeup | Spokane Public Radio

The City of Yakima has latched onto the coat tails of a Texas lawsuit before the nation’s highest court seeking to limit the principle of “one person – one vote.” Last February, a Spokane federal judge ordered the city to elect council representatives by district, rather than at large, reasoning that Latino candidates could not gain a political foothold under the at-large system.

Washington: Yakima council drops bid to stay election, but OK’s limited appeal of $1.8M awarded to ACLU | Yakima Herald

The Yakima City Council on Tuesday formally abandoned its effort to stay this year’s elections under a new court-ordered system. However, the council did vote to file a limited appeal of the $1.8 million in legal costs awarded by the same court to the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, which sued to change city elections under the federal Voting Rights Act. The appeal only seeks to preserve Yakima’s right to challenge the award or seek its own costs if the city wins its appeal in the 9th Circuit Court. Both motions were passed unanimously.

Washington: ACLU hiring voter engagement advocate in Yakima | Yakima Herald

After successfully suing to change city elections, the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington is now hiring someone to turn out the vote in Yakima this year. The ACLU of Washington is advertising for a full-time voter engagement advocate to lead an education campaign in the city during the 2015 elections. ACLU spokesman Doug Honig said the search may be expanded to include a second hire. The campaign will be primarily directed at Latinos, a growing part of the community that was at the heart of the ACLU’s voting rights lawsuit against the city. “We want to make sure people take advantage of this new system and vote,” said Honig, based in Seattle. “Who they vote for is obviously up to them.”

Washington: Federal appeals court turns back Yakima’s request to stay election | Yakima Herald

Yakima’s appeal seeking to stay City Council elections has been turned back by the federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. In a decision released Friday, the court said the city’s appeal should be heard by the federal district court judge who first ordered the elections. And in a related development, that district court judge, Thomas Rice, ordered the city of Yakima to pay $1.8 million in legal costs and fees to the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington. In a lawsuit brought against the city by the ACLU, Rice ordered the city to revamp its election process earlier this year after ruling Yakima’s voting system violated the federal Voting Rights Act by routinely suppressing the rights of Latinos.

Washington: Despite pleas, Yakima council stands by appeal of ACLU case | Yakima Herald

More than 100 people filed into the Yakima City Council chambers Tuesday, calling for an end to the city’s appeal of a voting rights case that changed Yakima’s elections system to give Latinos a greater voice. But none of the four council members who supported both the appeal and a request to stay this year’s elections offered a motion to reconsider the issue. The protest was in response to the council’s surprise vote June 2 to seek an emergency stay more than a month and a half after the city said it would allow elections to proceed, despite appealing the judge’s ruling to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court.

Washington: Yakima’s cost in fighting ACLU case tops $1 million | Yakima Herald

Yakima has now spent more than $1 million defending a voting rights case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union that upended the city’s elections system. Assistant City Attorney Helen Harvey said Wednesday the city has spent $1,074,062 to date — and costs will continue to rise. Yakima’s attorneys on Tuesday filed a request with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals seeking a stay of this year’s elections, and the city expects to file a friend-of-the-court brief with the Supreme Court by early August in a Texas case that could effectively reverse the outcome of the ACLU ruling.

Washington: Senate bill would let cities hold district elections | Yakima Herald

The state Senate is considering new legislation to give localities more authority to hold elections by district. Senate Bill 6129, filed Tuesday by Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, would change state law to allow all counties and cities to hold district elections for their councils or commissions if local officials or voters so choose. State law currently only allows charter cities such as Yakima to change their elections systems, but a number of nonchartered localities with increasing minority populations, such as Pasco, have sought to create districts to improve minority representation. Yakima is one of just 11 charter cities in the state.

Washington: Yakima council OKs options for elections stay | Yakima Herald

The Yakima City Council will ask the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to consider a full or partial stay of this year’s elections. In a 4-3 vote Monday, the council approved a resolution asking for a stay and cited the city’s old elections system as the preferred method for voting this year. Under that system, only the positions now held by Maureen Adkison, Thomas Dittmar, Rick Ensey and Kathy Coffey would be up for a citywide vote during the November general election. Dittmar and Ensey have said they would not run this year.

Washington: State AG’s opinion on ACLU case could have wide reach | Yakima Herald

Reverberations from Yakima’s voting rights lawsuit with the American Civil Liberties Union are being felt across the state and in Olympia, where the state Attorney General’s Office is expected to release an opinion related to the issue. The opinion won’t have much, if any, impact in Yakima’s case. But it’s likely to be studied carefully in many other cities, especially Pasco. When Pasco officials saw how poorly Yakima fared in the ACLU lawsuit, they began drafting plans earlier this year to revamp their city’s election process in order to avoid a similar fate. Yakima has been ordered to change its election process by a federal judge who said its old election system violated federal election law by routinely suppressing Latino interests. Under the judge’s order, which is under appeal, Yakima City Council members would be elected by voters in their districts and would no longer be subject to citywide voting.

Washington: Yakima’s request to halt elections brings uncertainty | Yakima Herald

The first batch of Yakima election ballots already could be in the mail by the time the city’s request to halt new elections reaches the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The Yakima City Council voted 5-2 Tuesday night to seek a stay of elections under a court-ordered system that put all seven seats on the ballot in new districts. A federal judge ordered the new system in February, but there was no push for a stay until just last week, when the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a Texas voting rights case that could undo the judge’s ruling in Yakima. The timing caused some council members to ask why the decision wasn’t made earlier, with one councilman saying it was the city’s own defense attorney who originally discouraged it. Another wondered openly whether the stay was merely an attempt by some to stay in office longer.

Washington: Yakima to submit amicus brief in Supreme Court voting rights case | Yakima Herald

Yakima will file a legal brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of a case that could upend the city’s new elections system, but it narrowly voted against asking for a partial stay in the upcoming elections. The City Council on Wednesday unanimously asked its attorneys to submit a friend-of-the-court brief in Evenwel v. Abbott, a Texas case that seeks to define the “one person, one vote” principle. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court announced it would hear the case sometime in the next year.

Washington: Bill intended to help minorities in elections | Spokesman-Review

A proposal to allow Washington cities to rearrange voting districts so minorities could have a greater voice in elections was praised Thursday as a way to avoid costly federal lawsuits; it also was denounced as a Trojan horse for more litigation. The proposed state Voting Rights Act passed the House on a partisan vote during the regular session but stalled in the Senate despite bipartisan support. It got an airing in a joint Senate committee work session Thursday though it’s unlikely to be revived for the special session, which is concentrating on budgets.

Washington: State Voting Rights Act gets an airing | The Spokesman-Review

A proposal to allow Washington cities to rearrange voting districts so minorities could have a greater voice in elections was praised Thursday as a way to avoid costly federal lawsuits and denounced as a Trojan horse for more litigation. The proposed state Voting Rights Act, which passed the House on a partisan vote during the regular session but stalled in the Senate despite bipartisan support, got an airing in a joint Senate committee work session. It’s unlikely to be revived for the special session, which is concentrating on budgets, but that didn’t keep tempers from occasionally flaring as legal experts disagreed on its effectiveness.

Washington: Yakima watching intently as Supreme Court considers Texas voting rights case | Yakima Herald Republic

U.S. Supreme Court justices will convene May 14 to discuss a Texas voting rights case that could impact Yakima’s legal fight with the American Civil Liberties Union. Meanwhile, an attorney hired by the city says negotiations to reduce the ACLU’s $2.8 million fee claim against Yakima are at a standstill. The Supreme Court conference, held behind closed doors, is a routine part of the decision-making process on whether to hear cases submitted to the court. An announcement on whether the case will be heard could come as early as May 18.