If ever an election called for a mobile journalist, it's this one.

Locally, we're pioneering with ranked choice voting.

Statewide, we have the Rossi-Gregoire rematch.

Nationally, the contest is drawing record crowds of early voters.

Beginning at 7 a.m., I'll be roaming the South Sound, checking in with voters to see how the process went. I won't pry into your choices, though you're welcome to tell me.

I'd like to hear from you if voting turned out to be easier than you expected, or if, heaven forfend, you ran into problem.

You can contact me by:

• Commenting on this blog.

• E-mailing me at kathleen.merryman@thenewstribune.com.

• Calling my work land line at 253-535-9552. I will be checking messages.

• Calling my cell phone, 253-241-9098.

Here's my schedule so far:

7 a.m. Vote at By His Word Christian Center. Chat with willing vote-in-person types outside the polling place.

8:15 a.m. Meet photographer Dean Koepfler at St. Joseph Hospital to accompany Willie Mae Stacker, who is 90 and in the hospital, as she leaves on a day pass to go to the polls.

We got a tip that some people who used the state's new online voter registration tool may not have been added to the county rolls, but that's not the case, according to Nick Handy, elections director at the Secretary of State's Office.

As part of their normal cross-checking, elections workers examined the database of online registrations with the master database of registered voters and came across some that did not appear to have made it into the system, Handy said.

But when county elections workers looked into the issue, they found good – and routine – explanations for the names that appeared to be missing, Handy said, including:

• People died
• People moved
• People were already registered to vote and didn't realize it
• People were in the system under multiple names, such as Robert and Bob
• A felon tried to register online
• An underage voter tried to register online

"There were no systematic problems with online voter registration," Handy said. "Most were in fact in the database but with a twist, such as a name mis-spelled or an address that was different."

Washington began offering online voter registration in January. So far, the system has received more than 150,000 transactions, but officials say some folks use it twice to make sure they're really registered. They estimate 140,000 people have used it.

Here's an update on a story I wrote early last week. It will run in Tuesday's paper.

Washington prison officials on Monday were still looking for four ex-convicts in who were released from community supervision too early because of a miscalculation in how large a threat they pose to the community.
All four of the former inmates were released to King County, said Armando Mendoza, southwest regional administrator for community corrections for the state Department of Corrections.
Prison officials last week thought they had given early releases to as many as 75 prison inmates who had been under supervision of community corrections officers.
DOC spokesman Chad Lewis said it turned out that only eight of the 75 had been released too early. Four of them were located last week. The other four remain at large.

=> Read more!

Seems that Gov. Chris Gregoire's supporters can't figure out how to spin today's Seattle P-I article that claims Gregoire's re-election bid is threatened because voter turnout is lower among Democrats than Republicans.

First, the governor's campaign played it for money, sending out this plea for help:

The Seattle P-I just reported that turnout among Democrats is lower than among Republicans.

We have an aggressive plan to tip the scales in our favor in the next 24 hours, but we need your support to put this program into action.

Continuing our state’s progress won’t come without a fight, and your support could make the difference.

Please contribute $25. Governor Chris Gregoire will stand and fight for working families and healthcare for low-income kids. And she’ll continue our state’s leadership in the fight against climate change. In order for this to happen, we’ve got to finish strong and make sure to Get Out The Vote. That’s why I’m asking for your last-minute support. The election is tomorrow and this is your last chance. Please contribute $25. Will you wake up on Nov. 5 and wonder if you could have done more? More than 4,000 volunteers are reaching out to voters during our campaign’s final push. And donors are supporting their efforts by giving last-minute contributions. They understand that this campaign is only as strong as the support it receives. Join them today and strengthen our campaign when it matters most. Please contribute $25. Thanks for all that you do, Kelly Evans Campaign Manager People for Chris Gregoire

Then, a little while later, comes a response to the P-I article from Kelly Steele, spokesman for the state Democratic Party, claiming the newspaper's analysis of voter turnout is "deeply flawed and laughably inaccurate" partly because it fails to account for the fact that King and Pierce counties still have polling place voting.

Here's Steele's memo:

Interested Parties
FR: Washington State Democratic Party
DA: November 3, 2008
RE: Inaccurate analysis in today’s Seattle Post-Intelligencer

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer today published an “analysis” of the early voting in the Governor’s race that is deeply flawed and laughably inaccurate. The P-I concludes that Governor Gregoire is facing a turnout deficit based on two fundamentally inaccurate methodological assumptions: (1) the analysis fails to account for the fact that King County uses both vote-by-mail and poll voting and (2) projections, according to the P-I, “are based on doubling the percentage of absentee ballots that had been received late last week.” Amazingly, the P-I notes that when its methodology resulted in over 100 percent turnout in pro-Rossi counties, “the number was adjusted to reflect 99 percent turnout,” which would be a historically unprecedented turnout rate in any county.

It is all downhill from there. In short, the article falsely claims that King County is underperforming – even though close to 300,000 voters will cast their ballots at the polls tomorrow – and relies on universal participation in the smaller, pro-Rossi counties. When you unpack this “analysis,” the news is actually quite bad for Dino Rossi. King County is actually performing well for Governor Gregoire, and we are expecting 85 percent turnout there. Rossi’s strongest counties are not likely to perform at 99 percent turnout, as the P-I assumes.

=> Read more!

Be careful what you ask for.

Under pressure from ranked choice voting advocates, Pierce County Auditor Pat McCarthy announced Friday she will run a computer program on election night that will give a snapshot of early results.

The unintended consequence: you won’t get results for any other races – including governor, president, etc. – between 8:30 p.m. Tuesday and 3 a.m. Wednesday.

Originally, the office also planned to issue results at 10 p.m. Tuesday and 12 a.m. (midnight) Wednesday.

McCarthy had not planned to run the ranked choice voting computer program until Friday. The rationale: the office wouldn’t have enough ballots Tuesday night to produce a meaningful result (She planned to release a tally of first-place RCV results along with results from other races).

But RCV advocates (and The News Tribune editorial page) demanded McCarthy run the program sooner than Friday. They suggested it wouldn’t look good if McCarthy – a candidate for county executive – withheld full results for the RCV races.

Saying she didn’t want anyone to question the integrity of her staff, McCarthy gave in. If all goes well on election night, her office will run the ranked choice voting computer program and issue results for the affected county offices at 11:30 p.m.

But in announcing the decision Friday, McCarthy said she’d be forced to stop counting ballots for two to three hours to run the computer program. Thus the revised schedule for releasing other results.

Here’s the revised schedule from the auditor’s office:

"Revised" Tentative schedule (subject to change)
Absentee results for Traditional and Ranked Choice ballots will be reported in the 1st release at approximately 8:30 p.m. Poll site results will be released throughout the night until all poll site ballots are counted.

=> Read more!

Over at Business Buzz, they're reporting that Starbucks wants to thank voters for doing their civic duty. Simply say you voted and they'll give you a free 12-ounce coffee.

That's pretty cool except for the fact that it might violate federal law. David Ammons, spokesman for the Washington Secretary of State, said the office has contacted Starbucks to tell them that the feds allow no remuneration for registering, voting or not voting.

"It was aimed at vote-buying, and there is no exemption
for innocent or minimal giveaways," Ammons wrote.

UPDATE: Starbucks says it thinks it can get around the legal questions by simply giving coffee to everyone, whether they voted or not.

Here is the response from the company

We've been excited by the number of positive responses received about our free coffee offer. To ensure we are in compliance with election law, we are extending our offer to all customers who request a tall brewed coffee. We're pleased to honor our commitment to communities on this important election day. We hope there is a record turnout on Tuesday and look forward to celebrating with our customers over a great cup of coffee.

Tara Darrow
Starbucks Coffee Company

Replies Ammons:

The secretary of state's office is pleased with this decision, and wishes hypercaffeinated Washington voters a double-tall Happy Election Day.

flannigan

This just in from the celebratory committee at Rep. Dennis Flannigan campaign HQ:

Tomorrow is finally here - election night. Hope and fear connect us all until the results are clear. That should be Tuesday evening, and Ilse and I hope you to join us for the Friends O' Flannigan's Victory bash, 7:00--9:30 pm, at the Muse, 2509 6th Avenue. Great spot. Good food, light libation.

If you're sick of politics, here's a change-of-pace talk the day after the election.

Maj. Gen. Timothy J. Lowenberg, commander of the Washington National Guard, will be speaking to the City Club at 6 p.m. Wednesday at UPS.

From the news release:

Traditionally, most National Guard personnel served “one weekend a month, two weeks a year”. But that slogan has lost much of its relevance since the breakup of the Soviet Union , according to Maj. Gen. Timothy J. Lowenberg, adjutant general of the State of Washington. The current face of the National Guard has Washington State’s Guard troops now serving in 13 countries.

"Weekend Warriors" no longer.

=> Read more!

The last campaign flier has been mailed. The last TV minute has been sold. The last yard sign has been stolen (OK, just kidding about that).

Now it comes down to this: Pierce County voters will choose a new county executive from among Shawn Bunney, Calvin Goings, Mike Lonergan and Pat McCarthy.

Who will it be? You’ll have a tough time finding a local political observer willing to make a prediction on the record (County Councilman Dick Muri is an exception). So I’m throwing it open to Political Buzz readers.

Tell us who you think will win the executive’s race and why. If you’re feeling bold, throw in the percentage of first-choice votes you think each candidate will win. If you’re feeling like a genius, give us the proportion of final vote (after redistribution of second and third choices) you think the remaining candidates will get.

If you’re right, you win … bragging rights. But in a year like this, you can brag for a long time if you’re right.

The campaign of Republican challenger Larry Faulk sent out an e-mail over the weekend, showing how incumbent state Sen. Debbie Regala, D-Tacoma, filled out a candidate questionnaire from the Poverty Action Network.

At first, I wasn't going to post it because we generally try to refrain from publishing "hit pieces" so close to the election, which, by the way, it tomorrow.

But I reconsidered, mainly because Regala's support of an income tax is hardly a "hit." She's proud of it. And it probably makes no nevermind in the 27th District anyway.

Sorry, Larry. I don't think this revelation will be much help to you in a district where Democrats are elected for life. This is not the same district that elected you to the Legislature 40 years ago.

And this isn't the governor's race, where the income tax issue actually seems to matter.

Here is the Poverty Action Network election brochure. Scroll down to see Regala's comments.

Incidentally, neither Reps. Dennis Flannigan nor Jeannie Darneille, Regala's North End seatmates, filled out the questionnaire.

That shouldn't be taken personally by the Poverty Action Network. Candidates gets dozens and dozens of questionnaires to fill out by just about every organization out there.

The final Washington Poll of this campaign season was released over the weekend with some interesting numbers.

Dino Rossi has closed to within two points of Chris Gregoire in the final days. Compared to an earlier sample by the University of Washington faculty members, Gregoire's lead has dropped from 51-45 to 50-48.

"The latest data shows undecided voters slightly breaking for Rossi,
making the election for Governor very, very close headed into the final days" said Matt Barreto, assistant professor of political Science at UW and director of the poll.

"At the same time, polling data have shown Gregoire appears to maintain a lead over Rossi, not just in our poll, but across multiple polls released recently," he said.

The same poll shows that John McCain has closed the gap with Barack Obama in Washington, though not by much. Obama now leads McCain 51-39. The earlier sample had the Obama lead 55-34.

The poll also has number numbers on the state initiatives as well as the regional transit vote. Take a look at the poll here.

Adam Wilson at The Olympian posted this story. And since it's a sister, (the paper, not Adam) I'm stealing it.

Here's a link to Adam's story.