Election anxiety and partisanship are blazing hot. When will the fever break?

As we inch toward Election Day, there's excitement and anxiety in the air. There's a lot at stake, whichever side you lean toward. It's a good time to check in with someone who has witnessed, audited, and overseen multiple general elections. Sam Reed is a Republican who served as Washington's Secretary of State from 2000 until 2012. KUOW’s Kim Malcolm asked him to share his views on this year’s contest.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

Kim Malcolm: We saw arson attacks earlier this week on two ballot boxes, in Vancouver, Washington, and Portland. One of those fires destroyed hundreds of completed ballots. What was your reaction when you heard that news?

Sam Reed: I think it's reprehensible, and I think the public is going to react that way too. And rather than being intimidated or discouraged about voting, I really expect our citizens to rally and support and realize it's even more important to vote and to participate.

What kind of psychological impact could these kinds of attacks have on voters?

I think American citizens are going to be angered by this, people trying to undermine the fundamentals of democracy in our country, and will be more determined than ever to make sure the system works. That's what I've seen over the years, is that people who think they're going to cause everything to be fouled up, and then people are going to be discouraged, usually find it ends up being the opposite, because people are proud of being Americans, proud of their citizenship and the ability to vote, and they're going to make sure it works.

You played a key role in helping to standardize vote by mail statewide over 10 years ago. How confident are you that voters’ ballots are secure now?

I'm very confident. We developed vote by mail over the years, starting with when I was a county auditor back in the 80s. So, we really perfected it in many ways, and have a highly secure system and have great checks and balances. So, I'm very confident in the system, and of course, we've had a long, long history of absentee voting in this state and around the country. So, it isn't like voting through the mail is something new.

State Republican Party Chair Jim Walsh said this week about the arson attacks that he would like to move back to in-person voting in Washington state. What do you say to that?

Well, while I have a certain nostalgia for voting at the polling sites and the traditions and the ceremony of it, I just found that it became impractical. It's a wonderful tradition, but I think we need to move on through other ways that we're going to be voting that actually work and are practical.

Washington has become a state that is dominated by one party, and that means we don't get the kind of attention from presidential candidates that battleground states do. What you would say to people here who may wonder if their vote matters at all in the national contest?

It is important that Washingtonians realize how important their votes are, particularly the United States Congress and Senate, but also for statewide offices, legislative offices, and counties that are not charter counties. This election cycle, you’re electing county commissioners, and so they are just a tremendous number of positions that are up for election this year that make a difference in people's lives, so they really need to vote here. It does make a difference.

I don't have to tell you how deeply divided the country is right now. The results from next week's election may exacerbate the hyper-partisanship that many Americans say they're sick of. Do you have a sense of what it could take to heal this divide?

We certainly are divided in this nation, but I've been involved in this process long enough to see this happen before, and particularly when I was a young person working in Governor Dan Evans’ administration. We were going through the war in Vietnam, the civil rights struggles, the assassinations, Watergate, and at that time, people were really concerned, and there was a lot of polarization, a lot of anger, and even bombings and such going on. And we cycled out of that, returned to normal, so to speak. You see that happen various times in American history, in the 19th century, and back in the Depression and such. I really see us as moving on in this country, away from this hyper-partisanship.

You sound quite confident and hopeful about the future. That is quite a contrast to how a lot of people are thinking and feeling right now about this election. Anxieties are running pretty high.

Well, I certainly see that, and I'm not happy at all with the tone of campaigners this year, but I've been involved long enough, I've seen the extremes, and I am a moderate Republican, so I've been involved in a number of fights over the years with the extremists, and I have just seen where, when it comes right down to it, after a number of years, the big center of our electorate in America controls things.

Listen to the interview by clicking the play button above.

Washington voters can check here to see if their ballot has been received.