New elections center a good idea

The Seattle Times reported Friday that King County is looking at buying a piece of property to consolidate its elections operations into a larger facility where everything could be housed under one roof:

King County officials have a tentative agreement to buy a Rainier Valley building and turn it into a modern, $22.8 million election center intended to help avoid a repeat of the problems that plagued the November election.

The facility would allow the county to combine under one roof election offices and now-cramped absentee-ballot operations.

Outside reviews of the Elections Section before the November vote called for consolidation, but it took the embarrassing failures of the 2004 election to make it a top priority of County Executive Ron Sims and the County Council.

Sims informed the council yesterday that the county has an option on a three-story building at 1130 Rainier Ave. S. and two adjacent properties just north of Interstate 90.

The deal is subject to the approval of the council, which in April asked Sims to come up with plans for consolidating election operations, improving staff training and evaluating funding requirements for running elections.

We strongly applaud this idea and urge the County Council and Sims to move forward and take action. A new consolidated elections center could do wonders by providing a more roomy facility, allowing for more flexibility and putting staff closer together. Even the folks at (un)SoundPolitics don't think that it's such a bad idea.