Camden: Survey works to take the pulse of Washington voters

In adapting the survey tool for the United States — for better or worse, no one else elects a national leader the way Americans do — Kieskompas enlisted the help of more than 25 academics across the country. That includes Travis Ridout, the Thomas S. Foley Distinguished Professor of Government and Public Policy at Washington State University.

The project hopes to continue to gather information about voters’ stands on various issues through the fall election, detect trends from daily responses, and even map how issues are playing in different parts of the country.

Although Donald Trump is the presumptive GOP nominee, Washington presidential primary ballots were printed before some of the other candidates dropped out. Ted Cruz, John Kasich and Ben Carson are also on the Republican list.

Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are still courting voters for the Democratic nomination. Although the state party says it will ignore the results, the winner might point to them as proof that his or her campaign is stronger.

Voters can choose to mark the ballot for a candidate of either party, but not for a candidate from both parties. They must also mark the ballot to indicate support of the party for the candidate they chose.

School daze

The Legislature made progress toward the state Supreme Court mandate to improve funding for public schools, but didn’t set aside money for the fine the court opposed for past failures to meet that mandate, a special committee said last week.

Whether that will be enough to stave off further punishment from the court or lift the $100,000-a-day penalty imposed last year remains to be seen.

In a report submitted to the state Supreme Court, the Joint Select Committee on Article IX Litigation listed improvements to smaller class sizes and increases in all-day kindergarten, extra money for school supplies, and bus rides. Article IX is the section in the constitution that makes adequate funding of public schools the state’s paramount duty.

The 26-page document was likened by one committee member to a “book report” on the past session. And like some book reports prepared in junior high school, it seems in some places padded with repetition or details of work in previous sessions. It promises to come up with a plan next year to make teacher pay more competitive, and to pay more of school salaries with state money rather than the money school districts collect with their local levies.

Senate Democrats on the committee pushed to include a mention that the fine imposed last year by the court, which by now tops $27 million, is not being set aside because some factions — by which they mean the predominantly Republican coalition that controls the chamber — wouldn’t agree to that.