I heard WSRP chairman Chris Vance speaking with Kirby Wilbur on KVI this afternoon. The state GOP has filed a comprehensive public disclosure request of King County this afternoon to shed light on all of the perceived irregularities.
The GOP wants a list of all voters who submitted ballots in the Nov. 2 general election, including ballots that were counted as well as those that were rejectedThe WSRP's PDA request also includes a number of questions about KC elections practices and procedures for managing registration lists and ballots.
I've posted the WSRP's PDA letter here
It will be interesting to see King County's responses to these requests.
Dan Brady, the lead Republican observer at the two KC recounts, was also on the air with Kirby Wilbur. Brady discussed the irregularities he witnessed at the Ukrainian Roulette Recount. Among other things, he described how the surgical enhancement of several hundred ballots permanently altered the ballots in violation of the state administrative code.
UPDATE: I now have the list of questions that the WSRP posed to King County, posted here. A lot of very good questions for which the answers will be fascinating. e.g.
What specific steps have been taken (as opposed to procedures written) in King County to identify and correct multiple registrations by the same individual?I've come across many, many duplicate registrations in my tour of the voter file. And I'm not even trying very hard to find them.
But in all fairness to King County, other counties have difficulties of their own. The WSRP document also poses some intriguing questions to Snohomish County:
Why does the “Snohomish County Canvass Board Report” detailing the number of absentee, vote-by-mail and provisional ballots received show a total of 199,395 ballots, while the “Official Election Results” show 200,737 absentee ballots cast?I have a feeling there will be many more fascinating answers to intriguing questions before this whole election is thrown out the window. Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at December 27, 2004 05:16 PM | Email ThisEven when the 224 ballots found during the machine recount and an additional 5 “found” ballots are added, there is an unexplained discrepancy of 1,113 ballots between these two reports of ballots cast.
Who was registered and eligible to vote in Snohomish County on November 2? To date, Snohomish County has declined to provide this information or even to confirm that it can be provided.
pda should be reserved for high school sweethearts
Posted by: bmvaughn on December 27, 2004 05:23 PMSince there has been a violation of established Federal case law (Bush v. Gore, Roe v. Alabama) I think that any prosecutions would come from the Federal level.
Posted by: FedUpWithThis on December 27, 2004 06:35 PMOptical Scan- WAC 434-262-080 “Ballots shall only be enhanced when such enhancement will not permanently obscure the original marks of the voters.”
Punchcard- WAC 434-262-085 “Ballots shall only be enhanced when such enhancement will not permanently obscure marks or punches of the voters.”
These would seem to preclude the use of white-out, fully darkening ovals, or other methods reportedly used in King County to enhance ballots.
Both WACs also contain the following additional requirements:
“When enhancing ballots, the county[auditor] shall take the following steps to create and maintain an audit trail of the actions taken with respect to those enhanced ballots:
(1) Each ballot to be enhanced must be assigned a unique control number, with such number being marked on the face of the enhanced ballot;
(2) A log shall be kept of the ballots enhanced and shall include at least the following information:
(a) The control number of each ballot enhanced;
(b) The initials of at least two people who participated in enhancing each ballot; and
© The total number of ballots enhanced;”
Optical Scan- WAC 434-262-080 “Ballots shall only be enhanced when such enhancement will not permanently obscure the original marks of the voters.”
Punchcard- WAC 434-262-085 “Ballots shall only be enhanced when such enhancement will not permanently obscure marks or punches of the voters.”
These would seem to preclude the use of white-out, fully darkening ovals, or other methods reportedly used in King County to enhance ballots.
Both WACs also contain the following additional requirements:
“When enhancing ballots, the county[auditor] shall take the following steps to create and maintain an audit trail of the actions taken with respect to those enhanced ballots:
(1) Each ballot to be enhanced must be assigned a unique control number, with such number being marked on the face of the enhanced ballot;
(2) A log shall be kept of the ballots enhanced and shall include at least the following information:
(a) The control number of each ballot enhanced;
(b) The initials of at least two people who participated in enhancing each ballot; and
© The total number of ballots enhanced;”
Optical Scan- WAC 434-262-080 “Ballots shall only be enhanced when such enhancement will not permanently obscure the original marks of the voters.”
Punchcard- WAC 434-262-085 “Ballots shall only be enhanced when such enhancement will not permanently obscure marks or punches of the voters.”
These would seem to preclude the use of white-out, fully darkening ovals, or other methods reportedly used in King County to enhance ballots.
Both WACs also contain the following additional requirements:
“When enhancing ballots, the county[auditor] shall take the following steps to create and maintain an audit trail of the actions taken with respect to those enhanced ballots:
(1) Each ballot to be enhanced must be assigned a unique control number, with such number being marked on the face of the enhanced ballot;
(2) A log shall be kept of the ballots enhanced and shall include at least the following information:
(a) The control number of each ballot enhanced;
(b) The initials of at least two people who participated in enhancing each ballot; and
© The total number of ballots enhanced;”
Very interesting indeed wouldn't you say, Stefan and all?
Whoa! I had no idea the KC canvass board was so ignorant to our State law! This is incredible! I know they really were only concerned with gaining Gregoire votes....but sheesh! It wouldn't hurt them to occaisionally take a look at the WAC....so they could pretend they cared...
This can now be a criminal investigation!
There is no way Rossi can concede now - he owes this fight to the people of Washington State. Whether he wants the Governorship or not - he has to see this through......
Even the hand-picked liberal judges in this state
have to agree this is blatant ballot tampering by King County!
Now.....Let's see *who* sent out the Military absentee ballots and *when*.......
Posted by: Deborah on December 27, 2004 09:03 PMSurely you want answers to the questions posed to King County and Snohomish County by the WSRP.
After all, this election was "the greatest display of democracy you have ever seen" and I know you will want to make sure that if there were any irregularities in the election, they will be discovered and corrected. I'm so glad that you are concerned with the enfranchisement of every voter because I know that means that you will also be very concerned with subtracting any votes that were cast twice by the same person.
Mrs. Gregoire, I am waiting for your public statement that assures Washington voters that you are serious about following up on the questions from the WSRP so that we can all feel that the outcome of this election was fair and accurate.
Sincerely,
A concerned voter from Tacoma, WA
Posted by: Jeff B. on December 27, 2004 09:34 PMThe public record requests, depositions of Berendt/Phillips et al will be comical. Will they all lie under oath...it will be amazing to count the number of "I don't recall"'s they utter. And be sure to remind the Dem spinners that the reason none of this came our earlier was because ROSSI WAS AHEAD! Only a moron would try to set aside an election they were winning. The Lefties are desperate to know what hard evidence the R's have so they can try spin it away. Yet the R's are playing this correctly. Don't reveal anything until you have to.
The first person to find a forged signature of a convicted felon who died more than a year ago that also voted twice gets the LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD. 3 out of 4 gets All-American status. 2 out 4 gets you Honorable Mention. 1 out of 4 gets you a 1 year free membership in the State Democratic Party!
Posted by: motorhomeman on December 27, 2004 09:53 PMWhere does Sno county get off not answering the question of the 1,000+ reported absentee ballot discrepancy?? Foul!!!!
Dino should absolutely keep going. Never has there been so much light shed on the manure being shovelled at us by our dear King County elections dept. At this point, it's not just about Dino, it's also become about bringing ensuring justice to all who DID cast legal votes or never got to, through no fault of their own.
Posted by: Michele on December 27, 2004 09:58 PM