Washington state deserves to be both embarrassed and proud about its ongoing battle royal over the governor’s office.

On the embarrassing side of the equation, the struggle over how to decide which ballots to count is a small-scale example of the need to firmly set national standards for voting technology and procedures.

There should be clearly understood, predictable and enforceable rules to guide elections. Most elections move along well-established paths, with registered voters showing up in person at the appropriate polling places. In other cases, something strays from the normal path, but there can and should be clear advance plans for how to make certain these votes are counted too.

It is ridiculous and unacceptable for a major, technologically advanced county such as King – which includes Seattle – to have a voting system in which hundreds of ballots were kicked out and went uncounted for weeks because of some flaw in signature-matching software. Counting votes while minimizing chances for fraud is not some wildly complicated space-age procedure. Each county in Washington, and each county in the U.S., must adhere to straightforward systems that guarantee the will of each individual voter is carried out – not lost, miscounted or improperly thrown out.

Washington’s system is uniquely flawed in that absentee votes are allowed to dribble in for days following the election. It is time for an overdue change to the rule used in Oregon, which requires ballots to be at the polling place on election day in order to be counted.

Despite all this, Washington can be proud of having gone to incredible lengths to ensure that all valid ballots are counted. Though it has been needlessly messy, it is a tribute to American democracy that we take elections so seriously.

But the best tribute to democracy will be a national commitment to making sure our system works as it should every time. The Washington governor’s race, with only a few votes separating winner and loser, is forceful evidence that every single vote is crucial.