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Thursday, March 26, 2020 — Shelton-Mason Journal — Page A-7
the 0%!
Gov.lnslee must cancel ,
April 28 special election
MATTERS
~ -fl&,, ~
ast week, I joined Secretary
Lof State Kim Wyman and 38
other county auditors in asking
the governor to cancel the April 28
special election. North Mason School
District and Mason County
Fire Districts 6 and 16 have
measures on the ballot here.
I did not take this action
lightly because I believe, next
to public safety and health,
elections are about the most
important function of govern-
ment.
like the problems associated
with voting in polling places
during a pandemic would dis-
appear with vote-by-mail. Many do.
There is virtually no risk to a voter in
filling out a vote-by-mail ballot and
depositing it in the mail or a drop
box.
There is a lot of behind-the-scenes
work that my staff and our printer
and mail house have to do to get your
ballot to you, then process and count
it when you send it back.
I have a three-person elections
staff. They are awesome and do an
amazing job, but if even one of them
got sick or had to stay home in quar-
antine, I cannot comply with all of
the requirements the Legislature has
given me to hold an election.
By law, my officehas to be open
to the public during business hours
for 18 days before the election so that
people can get a replacement ballot,
use our accessible voting equipment,
or register to vote until 8 pm. on
election day. We also have nine ballot
At first blush, it would seem By PADDY
'McGUIRE
drop boxes around the county that my
staff needs to empty regularly and all
of this takes people who are healthy.
I simply do not have any margin for
error without disrupting my ability to
comply with the law.
New York City was hold-
ing a mayoral primary elec-
tion on Sept. 11, 2001. Peo-
ple had already voted when
the planes hit the World
Trade Center and that elec-
tion suddenly became unim-
portant. Without any legal-
authority to do so, the New
York City Board of Elections
just canceled the election.
One of the advantages of
vote-by—mail is the resiliency it gives
us to correct errors (by us or by vot-
ers). That resiliency does have its
limits. When we got record snow dur—
ing the February election last year
and many areas in the county didn’t
have mail delivery for days, we had to
reject an unusually large number of
late ballots.
We hate to not count ballots and
the law gives me almost no discretion
to make allowances for exigent cir—
cumstances. It’s important to remem-
ber how much more disruption the
blizzard would have caused had we
still voted in polling places.
Election officials work hard to
make what we do seem routine, but
there are times when we are simply
overrun by events.
I Paddy McGuire is the Mason County
auditor. He can be reached at 360-427—
9670, art. 468.
Imagine not knowing about
coronavirus pandemic for month
the—clock news and instant tex-
ting, can you imagine anyone not
hearing about our coronavirus pan-
demic for nearly a month?
That’s what happened on
March 14 when a dozen Col-
orado River rafters emerged
from the Grand Canyon after
a 280—mile trip. The group
was away from phones, in-
ternet connections and the
rest of the world. After all,
people go to places like the
Grand Canyon to escape the
news, not catch up on it.
“When they departed
President Trump had recently grant—
ed clemency to Rod Blagojevich, the
disgraced former Illinois governor,
and Bernie Sanders had a double-
digit polling lead heading into that
night’s Democratic debate in Las Ve-
gas,” New York Times’ Charlie Warzel
wrote.
Many Seattle Mariners fans were
in Peoria, Arizona, a couple hundred
miles south of the Grand Canyon Na-
tional Park, for spring training and
Gonzaga was preparing for a run at
the NCAA men’s basketball champi—
onship.
“Cases of the coronavirus were
showing signs of decline in mainland
China and the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention issued its
In America today with our around-
By DON
BRUNELL
first Level 1 travel notices “practice
usual precautions” for travelers head—
ing to Hong Kong and Japan,” Warzel
wrote. “After all, the COVlD-19 out-
break had been in the news
since last fall; however, it
was happening in the far
east — mainly China.”
Rafter Sarah Knaack, a
nurse, learned those work-
ing in health care would be
working long hours and be
exposed to the COVID-19
virus. Medical supplies
(masks, gloves and gowns),
hospital beds and ventilators
were in short supply.‘
Another adventurist, Zach Edler, a
teacher, emerged to find that educa-
tion had shifted from classrooms to
online to avoid transmission of the
virus.
Mason Thomas, also on the ex-
pedition, told The New York Times:
“We’re sitting here trying to piece the
world together. What does a toilet pa-
per shortage mean?”
On Feb. 19, the day the rafters ini-
tially put into the river, we arrived at
the Grand Canyon National Park by
train. We’d planned the trip ahead of
the tourist season. We also wanted to
escape and just enjoy being in a beau-
tiful remote place.
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Our Commitment
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