Long Lines at the Polls

Pierce County Auditor Pat McCarthy had two years to prepare for this general election. While her department did many things correctly, her planning for the poll voting was flawed and the cause of long lines at the polls. In a Presidential election year with high levels of anticipated participation, she closed down polling places and did not sufficiently increase the capacity of the polling sites.

The result was long lines of frustrated voters at the polling sites. McCarthy blamed Ranked Choice Voting rather than taking responsibility for her poor decision making. Blaming RCV for long lines is a bit like blaming Barack Obama for the long lines. McCarthy needs to do a more honest job of taking responsibility for doing her job.

With sufficient capacity planning, the long lines at the polls could have been eliminated. McCarthy knows that. She should admit it.