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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
March 26, 2020     Shelton Mason County Journal
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March 26, 2020
 
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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. see COLUMN, pageA—S 1% Cash Back1 No Payment for 90 Days2 When You Move Your Consumer Loans to OCCU! W4 0r» 4 £05m? 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