Washington State Republican Party chairman Chris Vance issued a press release earlier today alleging "four glaring examples of problems [calling] into question the way the [King County] Elections Department is run".
1. Ballots clearly marked for Dino Rossi are not being counted.
2. A partisan King County Elections employee is engaging in improper behavior.
3. Ballots are not being stored securely.
4. Ballots are missing from some precincts.
The complete press release follows in the extended entry.
Serious problems in King County Elections Department
Missing ballots, partisan employees, and more
Seattle, WA – Republicans today raised new questions about the way King County is conducting the recount of the governor’s race. They pointed to four glaring examples of problems that they say calls into question the way the county Elections Department is run.
Republican observers watching over the King County recount cited the following examples:
1. Ballots clearly marked for Dino Rossi are not being counted.
In more than one instance this morning, ballots where the bubble was clearly and fully marked for Dino Rossi were spit out of the machine because of other stray marks on the ballot. King County Elections workers noticed that there were faint marks on or around the bubble next to Christine Gregoire’s name. The workers recommended that these ballots be sent to the King County Canvassing Board to clear up any confusion, but King County Elections Superviser Bill Huennekens, who is a Democrat, ordered the workers to not count the ballots at all, even though they were clearly and fully marked for Dino Rossi. A Republican observer questioned Huennekens on his decision, but Huennekens was not responsive.
2. A partisan King County Elections employee is engaging in improper behavior.
Ten days ago, a paid temporary employee for King County Elections said aloud that he didn’t trust Republican observers. On a different day, the same employee got confrontational with a Republican observer, to the extent that the employee’s supervisor sent the employee home for the rest of the day. This morning, the same employee was observed running ballots through the machine – some of the ballots were spit out, which is normal. But instead of running all the spit-out ballots through the machine again, as he should have done, this employee took only some of the ballots and ran them through the machine again. When he was done, he took the ballots that had run through the machine again and shuffled them into the stack of ballots that he failed to run through the machine. A Republican observer notified a supervisor of this suspicious activity, and the supervisor has offered to run the entire batch of ballots through the machine again. Republicans are asking that this employee be removed.
3. Ballots are not being stored securely.
This morning, when ballots were being taken out of the supposedly secure storage area, one of the ballot boxes was not sealed and was open. The receipt on the ballot box from the night before said that there were 199 ballots in the box. But when the ballots were taken out and counted, there were 201 ballots in the box.
4. Ballots are missing from some precincts.
A Republican observer discovered this morning that in several precincts, there are fewer ballots on hand than were counted on Election Day. In one particular precinct, there were 88 fewer ballots on hand than were counted at the precinct polling place on Election Day. A batch of ballots from this precinct was delivered from the polling place to King County Elections not in a box, but in a bag. The bag wasn’t discovered until Friday, and it had not been stored in a secure location. The missing 88 ballots weren’t discovered until today.
State Republican Party chairman Chris Vance called the situation in King County “a mess,” and said the Elections Department needs to clean up its act.
“It is extremely troubling and disheartening to see this kind of behavior at the King County Elections Department,” said Vance. “After the 2002 election debacle, when the county made so many mistakes, you’d think the county would have bent over backwards to make this election process go smoothly. In fact, it looks as though it’s as bad as it’s ever been.
“Dean Logan is not in a position to supervise all of his employees at all times and some of the temporary and permanent eployees do not meet standards of fairness and competence.
“The voters of King County and of the entire state deserve to have all votes counted responsibly and properly, not to mention legally. This should not continue any longer. We need action now to make sure all valid votes are counted in King County.”
Yesterday the state Republican Party filed suit in Federal Court against King County and the Secretary of State’s office for the way the recount is being conducted in King County. Yesterday Republican Party observers saw that King County election workers were attempting to determine voter intent on ballots where a vote for governor was not clear. Election workers were “enhancing” ballots themselves. The GOP said this amounted to a partial hand recount, when all counties are supposed to be conducting machine recounts only.
A federal judge today denied the GOP’s request for a temporary restraining order based on King County’s assurance that 1) ballots are not being irreparably altered, and 2) “enhanced” ballots are segregated and available for later review. Vance said the state party believes King County’s assurances are not valid, and urged the media and the public to observe the process in King County to see for themselves what is happening.
Vance added, “The King County which today assured the judge that ballots are being handled properly is the same King County which is allowing these egregious improprieties to occur.”
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at November 21, 2004 03:23 PM | Email This#2. I got the e-mails of the top 2 yahoos in the King County election mess:
BILL HUENNEKENS
bill [DOT) huennekens {AT) metrokc [DOT> gov
(Remember to change this from the anti-spam version!)
DEAN LOGAN
dean [DOT) logan {AT) metrokc [DOT> gov
(Remember to change this from the anti-spam version!)
"A former Democratic precinct committee officer in Mason County, Huennekens scoffed at Republicans' suggestion that he was letting politics taint the process. "I'm not a PCO anymore and I conduct elections in a nonpartisan manner according to state law," he said."
SOURCE: http://www.oregonlive.com/newsflash/washingtonstate/index.ssf?/base/news-10/1101087543145400.xml&storylist=orwashington
I presume by now, you all know who Huennekens is. Now you REALLY know!
I'll put this on my blog once blogger.com starts to behave!!
Posted by: Josef on November 21, 2004 07:10 PMGood question. In my heart: YES. ABSOLUTELY. YOU BETCHA.
There needs to be better lines drawn between the vote-counters and the campaigners.
Posted by: Josef on November 21, 2004 07:40 PMI trust him because he's very, very much anti-party and Chris Vance would just assume have him go to Iraq and be their elections advisor in an unarmored Humvee...
Posted by: Josef on November 21, 2004 07:41 PMAnd you do not get "non-political" types into politics- and elections administration is fundamentally politics. What one works for- what we have in this state- is honest partisans in charge of elections, and a system where everyone is looking over everyone's shoulders, just to keep honest people honest- and catch the misguided foot soldier who tries to pull a fast one. And the system works- and is working- despite all the proclamations of falling skies from the two parties.
Anyway- good ol' honest, competent Skagit County- why after two days of recounting have the Skagit results not yet been posted?
Posted by: Jim King on November 21, 2004 08:13 PMANYBODY who pushed 872 as strong as he did deserves that moniker. Like I said - I think Chris Vance wants him to go away, as in FAR away!
I still respectfully believe that we need to weed out the partisans. But I like your prose.
"Anyway- good ol' honest, competent Skagit County- why after two days of recounting have the Skagit results not yet been posted?"
I don't know and am not in a position to answer. Only Klickitat has, for that matter. Skagit County, you must remember, has over 50,000 registered voters!!!
Posted by: Josef on November 21, 2004 08:34 PMSure, it's his department, but still...
Otherwise, I accept your last statement. Maybe we should IM sometime...
Posted by: Josef on November 21, 2004 08:59 PMSure, it's his department, but still...
Otherwise, I accept your last statement. :-)
Posted by: Josef on November 21, 2004 08:59 PMYour allegations are based on a Chris Vance press release. It's a press release guys... keep a little perspective.
Posted by: David Goldstein on November 21, 2004 09:37 PMAnd, Chris Vance is an incompetent boob. I'd like to see him fired. The guy lacks any sort of killer political instinct that we routinely see in the D's in this State. With leaders like him we hardly need political opponents.
I just spent the whole weekend (20+ hours over two days) defending Dino Rossi's win down at the Pierce Co. Auditor's office. They finished recounting today, but no results will be available until after the canvassing committee meets Tuesday morning.
In any case, I found it quite instructive that the effort to defend Rossi's interests there were being led by former WA Bush-Cheney staffers, and not WSRP people. Our state party should have been in the lead there, but they were nowhere to be found. Hell, even the RNC sent out a couple of lawyers who took the time to talk to me about any irregularites that I may have witnessed.
Simply put, our state level leadership was so incompetent that the nationals had to take over.
All this confirms what I have felt for years about Mr. Vance - his tenure has been a disaster for the GOP in this State. It's only because of Dino Rossi's incredibly effective campaign in this very blue state that we are even still in this thing at this point.
Posted by: K Shannon on November 21, 2004 10:07 PMLadies and Gentlemen, it is too early to panic.
If the King County recount comes back with a difference of more than a few dozen votes then by all means lets scream bloody murder, but until such a time lets not marginalize ourselves by making ourselves out to be a bunch of raving paranoiacs. I'd hate to kick up a fuss only to have the recount nail the original tally almost dead on.
In any case there is not much to be done at this point except observe the process, document anything suspicious, report it to the appropriate authorities and quietly prepare for all contingencies.
Step back, take a deep breath and consider the fact that with the ballot enhancing in King County--a process permitted by law--the Democrats are playing their final trump card. A hand recount could hardly find any additional votes in King County after this. We're left with all the power.
Posted by: Nathan Azinger on November 21, 2004 10:25 PMIn any case, the shift in the Cantwell/Gorton recount hardly changed anything for former Senator Gorton, who would have been former without the the net 276 votes Cantwell gained.
What's interesting about that figure is that 99 of those 276 votes were subtracted from Gorton's original total. In fact, only twice in the history of Wasington recounts have more than 200 votes been added to any total, the largest being an additional 236 no votes on Initiative 120 in 1991.
All larger net gains have been the result of recount totals that were less than the original tally. Because of this I consider it unlikely that the recount will gain Gregoire more than 250 votes. Therefore, as long as Rossi does not lose votes in the recount he should be fine.
To date he has actually gained one. You judge how worried you ought to be.
Posted by: Nathan Azinger on November 21, 2004 11:16 PM(Oh and if a Marsha Richards, who also writes Press Releases like candy for EFF, could please be so sweet as to pipe up about this, that would make my day as I change into blogger PJs.)
But I think, with the other intel streaming in, that Vance’s onto something. Besides, “Governor Dean” Logan’s own words are rather incriminating - like “It won’t serve any of our purposes” to secure the blank ballots! Go figure.
#2. This unnerves me that the national GOP has taken over. Either we're a 'Navy Blue' state (I know the truth, but the metaphors paints my mind still) or we're going to get Bush... What part of the fact the Dinocrats got Dino into the winner's circle doesn't anybody but the Dinocrats, Dave Ross and Dino Rossi himself get? And the WSRP should have seen this coming, too you know. They owed it to Dino.
I also believe that with zero vote tampering, Rossi will Save Our State.
Posted by: Josef on November 21, 2004 11:25 PM(Oh and if a Marsha Richards, who also writes Press Releases like candy for EFF, could please be so sweet as to pipe up about this, that would make my day.)
But I think, with the other intel streaming in, that Vance’s onto something. Besides, “Governor Dean” Logan’s own words are rather incriminating - like “It won’t serve any of our purposes” to secure the blank ballots! Go figure.
#2. This unnerves me that the national GOP has taken over. Either we're a 'Navy Blue' state (I know the truth, but the metaphors paints my mind still) or we're going to get Bush... What part of the fact the Dinocrats got Dino into the winner's circle doesn't anybody but the Dinocrats, Dave Ross and Dino Rossi himself get? And the WSRP should have seen this coming, too you know. They owed it to Dino.
I also believe that with zero vote tampering, Rossi will Save Our State.
Posted by: Josef on November 21, 2004 11:25 PMAnd no, one vote from Klickitat doesn't comfort me much, when there are likely hundreds in question in King Co. God Bless Klickitat - I have friends there and it is a beautiful place with great hunting...but there just aren't very many voters there.
My nature is to be pessimistic, but strangely determined regardless. I hope you optimists are correct on this one, really, I do.
Posted by: K Shannon on November 21, 2004 11:58 PMI'm optimistic, if we keep our guard up.
Posted by: Josef on November 22, 2004 12:08 AMI am not unaware of the net change in the Cantwell/Gorton results, but you are incorrect in saying that if Gregoire gets as good as Cantwell got she will be Governor. Gregoire has to get as good as Cantwell got AND Rossi needs to do as poorly as Gorton did.
With the procedural changes implemented since 2000 I can't see Rossi losing nearly a hundred votes. I expect his total to be the same as or greater than his original total, which means Gregoire would have to do better than anyone else in Washington State history if she is to be Governor.
Posted by: Nathan Azinger on November 22, 2004 12:39 AM#1. I have updated my blog with Edition 5.3 which can be read HERE. And if you could, please take a stroll around my blog. Read a few other entries - like this one on Skagit Valley College (SVC) Educrat waste and this one on Israel & Senator Cantwell. Or this open letter to the SVC BofT on the failure of 884.
#2. I would like it if some of my readers could be so sweet as to visit Marsha's last blog post on 884 and give her some traffic and piece of your minds! Just go here to make me even more grateful for your visits.
Thanks and thank YOU for your traffic!
Josef
Posted by: Josef on November 22, 2004 01:35 AMI wish one group (either the Rs or the Ds) would stand up and stop pretending they care about all votes being counted or about consistency in which votes get counted.
Tell the Truth: "We'll say whatever we need to in order to GET OUR GUY elected, pure and simple."
Even better, more truth: "If our candidate were (behind/ahead), we'd be doing EXACTLY what the other side is doing -- because all we care about is getting OUR GUY elected!"
Posted by: ray on November 22, 2004 09:28 AMBut they don't! What a sham. What a shame.
Posted by: ray on November 22, 2004 09:33 AMDino is in.
Posted by: Chris on November 22, 2004 09:36 AMDownload the spreadsheet at:
http://www.murdoconline.net/archives/001745.html
I don't get it, you call Chris Vance an incompetent boob during the same year he succesfully defended 2 open congressional seats vs. 0 for the dems, took over the state AG's office, and most likely won the Governorship? I'd take that kind of incompetent boobary every chance I could.
I like Sam Reed, although I agree that I-872 will be a disaster (if it ever takes effect, I think it'll be struck down), but even if you hate him, letting the D's control the vote counting in this state would be the biggest disaster I could imagine. Good riddance to Ruderman. I hope she stays retired.
Posted by: Cliff on November 22, 2004 11:53 AMAnd, there is no need to credit Vance because McKenna ran a good campaign and had a truly pathetic opponent in Senn. Rossi's campaign was brilliant - and also had little to do with Vance. Gregoire's campaign wasn't horrible, but it was uninspiring.
And...if you recall, we fared little better in the '02 midterms when the rest of the country heavily favored the R's.
Futher, the WSRP was not prepared for the post election fight we are now in. The D's shoot first, ask questions later. We sit around and wonder if we are obeying the letter of the law. The provisional ballot episode in King Co. is a perfect example of this. Berendt showed up with the affidavits himself, while the R's were worried about legal niceities (spelling?). The result is that Gregoire gained several hundred votes, bringing the final total in range for their recount fraud effort.
I stand by my assesment of Vance. He will be replaced as chair after all of this, I predict.
And, I'm a UW grad...which is somewhat embarrassing to admit this football seasom around my WSU coworkers. 1-10. Ouch.
Posted by: K Shannon on November 22, 2004 12:33 PMVance may do very well at running campaigns--I don't know enough about him to say--but he lacks the comprehensive vision to lead the Republican Party as a whole to victory in Washington. He is constantly getting mired down in individual battles and allowing himself to be out-maneuvered.
As important as the Governor and the Attorney General are, winning those offices is of strictly limited use without control of the state legislature.
Furthermore, those legislative offices are the training ground for future candidates for Governor and for other statewide and federal offices. By neglecting those races the WSRP is digging its own grave.
The place to start is on the bottom. Build the foundation and years down the road we'll have a strong and stable Republican majority in this state. Neglect it and while we may win some high profile races, defeat is just a recount away.
I don't think Chris Vance has shown the strategic vision necessary to pull this off, and because of that he should go.
Posted by: Nathan Azinger on November 22, 2004 01:35 PMAnyhow, yes, I am well aware of the fact that we lost the State Senate, but given the fact King County is one of the Bush hating centers of the country, it could have been much worse. We had 3 close races for State Senate, 2 in D leaning areas with R's, and 1 in an R leaning area with a D, and came up short in all of them. It happens.
In 2002, we gained 5 House Seats nationwide. That would leave 45 states that didn't gain any extra Republicans We ran a strong campaign against Larsen, a fairly strong one against Inslee considering, and gained control of the State Senate. All our incumbents won with the biggest margin ever.
This year, we did better then 2000 for the President, held 2 open congressional seats, and gained the AG and Governorship. Considering how liberal this state is, and how big the hate Bush movement was in this state, that was a major accomplishment.
It was much more important to keep the 5th and 8th (the 8th went for Kerry, btw, by a small margin) then it was to try to gain other seats. Larsen and Inslee probably wern't beatable anyway, especially seeming as how all the money, correctly so, was going to go to the 8th and the 5th. Diverting resources to longshots isn't a good idea. If we hadn't done that in 2000, we may not have Rick Larsen. Koster was all set to beat him, he was leading in the polls, but, thinking he had it won, diverted resources to try to oust Inslee and Smith. Bad idea. The Larsen campaign went ballistic with attack ads and he lost. If he had more resources, he might well have survived. Keep in mind this was Metcalf's district, so we lost a seat we controlled. The lesson? Hold open seats, worry about knocking off incumbents later.
Vance recruited strong top of the ticket folks and while things didn't go quite as well in the State house and Senate, winning the AG's race and Governors race and keeping the open Congressional seats was much more important. I think he's done a pretty good job.
Posted by: Cliff on November 22, 2004 03:12 PMI guess I just expect more out of the party than do you. I'm not happy with minority status...Vance has done little to change that and lacks the visions and boldness to take us forward.
You might recall that Vance even opposed the I-695 repeal of the vehicle license tax. This was a no brainer that R's could have benefited from greatly...we are supposed to be the party of lower taxes, after all. But Vance was too timid. No need to anger the GOP's road construction donors...nevermind the taxpayers.
And like I said earlier, his unpreparedness for this provisional ballot and recount fight is unforgivable.
Posted by: K Shannon on November 22, 2004 11:04 PM