With reference to Captain Porter’s open letter, I would respond with the following: I take my duties as auditor very seriously. So first, let me state that no laws, state or federal, were broken, nor were any legal requirements, state or federal, unmet.

The only deadline that exists in state law or federal law for mailing any absentee ballot is the 20-day requirement in Washington law for mailing all absentee ballots. Island County has always met this legal deadline.

Having made that clear, I appreciate your concern and I thank you for your letter.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has issued preferred guidelines for the handling of ballots intended for military or overseas voters. These guidelines suggest a minimum of 30 days prior to the election, which would have been Oct. 3, 2004.

When the DOJ feels that state laws do not provide adequate protection of military and overseas voters, their only recourse is to sue on a case-by-case basis. The DOJ threatened to sue Washington to make sure Washington’s ballots were mailed as soon as possible.

The current Washington primary makes the DOJ guidelines difficult to meet. In 2004, the primary election was Sept. 14. The results were certified by the counties Friday, Sept. 24, and by the Secretary of State Sept. 27. The Secretary of State legally had until Oct. 5, to certify.

This year, immediately following certification, the Libertarian Party filed suit to prevent the printing of ballots because neither of their candidates met the 1 percent threshold to move forward to the General Election.

The Washington courts rendered a summary judgment as expeditiously as possible on Wednesday morning, Sept. 29. The limited number of vendors who print ballots and the 39 Washington counties re-set, re-proofed and resumed printing.

Island County received their shipment in the week of Oct. 4 through the 8, and began to process absentees, military and overseas first.

Why were we later than the other counties? It was a combination of circumstance and staffing. I did not open the e-mail from the Secretary of State until Friday afternoon because I had been out of the office. My staff has access to my e-mail, but they were busy getting absentees ready.

I am responsible for the missed e-mail, but I disagree that it was mishandled. I think, however, the facts show that we were already working hard to serve our military and overseas voters.

About one-third of the military ballots were mailed Friday before we were aware of the DOJ’s threatened litigation. Even if we had known, with such short notice it’s doubtful that we could have mustered sufficient staff to get many more of the ballots out on Friday, unless we used the generic federal write-in ballots, as some other counties did.

Island County provided all of our military and overseas voters with a ballot that listed all of the races and issues specific to their precinct. The federal write-in ballots are available already on the bases, and they list only the federal offices. They do not list anything about state or local races such as governor, secretary of state, commissioner, etc. or tax issues.

Military ballots going to an APO/FPO address are delivered by the Department of Defense postal system. I’m sure the DOD prioritizes mail delivery, and especially ballots. Even from when we mailed them, the military and overseas ballots had a full 21 days to arrive on or before the election day, and 14 days to return to Coupeville. Island County had a 79 percent return rate for voted military ballots. Snohomish County, which was not late, had about a 76 percent return.

I recognize that military and overseas voters are at a disadvantage. Imagine for a moment what would have happened if there had been a recount demanded in the primary election, not to mention a contested election. Even one machine re-count would make it probable that many military and overseas voters would truly be disenfranchised for that election.

As past president of the Washington State Association of County Auditors and formerly as the Auditors’ legislative co-chair, I have testified in favor of an earlier primary for several years, for just this reason. The responsible parties are the legislators who refuse to consider changing the primary date.

I intend to continue that fight as the best means to prevent our military and overseas voters from being disenfranchised.

Suzanne Sinclair is Island County Auditor.