Ever since last November’s election, the news has been flooded with choreographed complaints about possible voting by ineligible citizens. The intent has been to fix in the minds of the citizens of our state that the 2004 election for governor was tainted with fraud.

Even after the vote fraud charges were thrown out last spring by a conservative judge in Wenatchee, partisan antagonists continue to focus on supposed incompetence of election officials that enable election manipulation. The latest salvo last month was a charge of double-registered voters in the primary election. This happens at times when people move, get married, and change their names.

To remedy this situation, next year the state will implement a computerized voter registry, enabling voting officials to keep up with people’s changes of residence and eliminating double voter registration.

These trumped-up charges of voter fraud cover up the real disgrace of democratic participation in our state: One out of four adult citizens did not vote in the 2004 elections. That’s more than one million voting-age citizens who did not cast their vote.

Of course, the participation rate is even worse for off-year elections. In 2002, six out of 10 adults did not vote in our state. And in 2003, voter participation dropped even lower. In Pierce County three out of four adults did not vote. In Yakima County, voter turnout was below 25 percent of adults. Washington state ranks in the bottom half of states when it comes to voting participation, with Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi doing a better job.

Why don’t people vote? A survey by the Census Bureau found that of the people who were registered to vote but did not vote, 15 percent were sick, four percent had no transportation, more than 20 percent had no time off or were too busy, and more than 30 percent weren’t interested or disliked the candidates.

We can fix some laws to make voting easier. But we can’t legislate that the Democrats and Republicans actually present and advocate policy changes that will benefit middle-class and low-income families. These parties may not want to be spurred on, but they can be helped along the pathway to public policy that secures education and health care (and, consequently, greater voter participation) if more citizens would have a clear pathway to voting.

So here are two steps for the Legislature to consider in the run-up to 2006.

 • Same-day voter registration: Minnesota and Wisconsin have same-day voter registration, and North Dakota doesn’t even require voter registration. Any concern that same-day voter registration could lead to voter fraud has been taken care of with the Legislature’s actions to create a computerized and accessible voter database.

Just because you were too busy to register beforehand, or you just moved into town, or you are caring for an ill parent, you should have the right to vote as much as anyone else. Procrastination is not a crime, and it should not be penalized.

 • Let felons vote. Washington is one of the worst states when it comes to voting by citizens who have done their jail time (78 percent of felons are guilty of nonviolent offenses). More than 150,000 felons are denied the right to vote. The reason they can’t vote is that they are expected to pay, with interest, financial obligations including attorneys’ fees, victim restitution and fines.

Those are appropriate payments, but with 12 percent interest and low-wage jobs, most felons aren’t going to be able to dig themselves out of this financial hole for a long time.

So why exclude these citizens from voting? The state has restored all their other rights and obligations. They are back in the community, working and paying taxes. In a democracy, they should be able to vote. That’s what state Rep. Toby Nixon (R-Kirkland) believes. As does Rep. Jeanne Darnielle (D-Tacoma), who, along with Reps. Nixon and Eric Pettigrew (D-Seattle) are sponsoring legislation to allow felons to vote while they are paying off their financial obligations.

This bill is languishing in the House, waiting for action. Let’s hope our legislators will take it up for action in the next session.

There is no excuse to barring people from voting. Voting should not be a task in our country; it should be an act of affirmation. So let’s make it easy for our citizens. This is a democracy, isn’t it?

John Burbank, executive director of the Economic Opportunity Institute (www.eoionline.org), writes every other Wednesday. Write to him in care of the institute at 1900 Northlake Way, Suite 237, Seattle, WA 98103. His e-mail address is john@eoionline.org.