Jim Baird: “I neglected to mention two people who were tremendously helpful: the Pierce County auditor Cathy Pearsall-Stipek, and…”

“I neglected to mention two people who were tremendously helpful: the Pierce County auditor Cathy Pearsall-Stipek, and the Cowlitz County auditor Chris Swanstron. These folks helped us understand that even in optimal circumstances, a special election would probably take at least 60 days, or more like 90. In Washington State, for example, we mail our ballots out 3 weeks before the election. If we are going to get an election done in 2 months, we have essentially got about a week to run for office, and then the ballots would have to be printed, distributed, counted, there would be one more week to run for office after the primary, and then we would have to have the special election. I want to follow up on something my colleague, the gentleman from Louisiana, said. He has offered such great, thoughtful insights to this. This is a first step, but we need to make sure, I believe, that there is a mechanism for quick replacement in some fashion to occupy the position in the House of Representatives and get the body's work done in the interim while these special elections are conducted. We simply cannot say that there will be no House of Representatives for the period of 60 days or more while special elections take place.”