Voting as IQ Test

A letter to the editor in today's Daily News:

Mail-in ballots mar election

What has happened in the Whitman County auditor’s office? The primary mail-in ballot was confusing enough without the conflicting instructions and incorrect ballots in the envelopes.

The instructions in one place said “use black or blue pen” but in another said only a No. 2 pencil will be correct. The auditor nonchalantly said, “well, voters who were confused could call the auditor’s office.” Does she have the staff to answer all those calls? Is she willing to pick up the long-distance call charge when the caller is put on hold for minutes?

By the way, doesn’t the auditor’s office have an 800 number?

If that weren’t bad enough, many voters received either the wrong ballots or only two of the three party ballots. To add insult to injury the e-mail address was incorrect.

How much inefficiency do Whitman County voters have to endure? Perhaps it’s time to vote for a change. Nathan Horter is computer literate, extremely efficient and abounding in intelligence. The general election is just weeks away. Keep his name in mind when you mark your ballot, in this election on Nov. 7.

Reed Hanson, Pullman

If Democrats can't figure out simple instructions on a ballot, no wonder they keep losing local elections. I think Democrats should be instructed to use invisible ink when filling out the ballot.

There are two things that are not Eunice Coker's fault:

1. The fact that is is long distance to call Colfax from Pullman. Bitch at the phone company. Name me one other county office that has an 800 number.
2. The fact that Whitman County switched to vote-by-mail. The Whitman County commissioners decided that, after the Democratic-controlled state legislature made it easier to do so and 30 or so other Washington counties had made the switch. Eunice is merely implementing their policy.

It's no wonder they wanted to switch to all-mail voting. Most Pullman precincts had already become vote-by-mail anyway. It's not worth having a polling place manned. I saw the returns from the latest primary on September 19. Precinct 132 in Pullman, which includes the Stephenson complex, Yakama Village, the Coffehouse Apartments, and a lot of the other student housing around the main entrance to WSU, returned NO ballots. That's why the Whitman County elections website only shows 55 of 56 precincts reporting.

We hear all these reports of wrong ballots. Where's the proof? And what does being "computer literate" have to do with anything? The auditor MANAGES the Elections Department, she doesn't set-up the e-mail addresses or write code. I'll take Eunice's 4 years of elections management experience over some green Napoleon Dynamite wannabe.

How many unwarranted, vicious partisan attacks do Whitman County voters have to endure?