I don't expect to post very much over the next few days while I focus on (a) wrapping up my business affairs for the end of the year, and (b) examining the voter lists that have been promised to be released on Wednesday.
In the meantime, for those of you who might have missed some of these the first time, here is a recap of the fascinating irregularities that I've discovered by perusing the King County voter registration database. (some as yet unreported surprises are listed here too!)
* More than 500 people registered at the King County Administration Building, and several more registered at City Halls around King County. Although this provision was created for homeless people, some of these voters have also been found in the property tax rolls as homeowners. Others provide mailing addresses in other states and countries.
* Several deceased people have been found in the voter rolls. At least one of them passed away as long ago as 1998.
* Thousands of obvious data errors have been noticed: voters who are recorded as having registered in 1904; 258 who are recorded as having voted in future elections; 2,500 who are recorded as genderless.
* Voters who are registered and have voted using aliases that don't appear to be legal name changes.
* Hundreds of people are registered at non-residential addresses: private mailbox services, storage rental facilities, office buildings.
* Hundreds more are registered giving their permanent residence at temporary shelters for the homeless, released convicts, mentally ill, runaway teenagers.
* Many, many people are registered multiple times.
* In additon to all of the above I learned by speaking with state and county elections officials that there are essentially no procedures being used to verify whether a person who registers to vote is actually eligible to vote.
* And then there are the numerous e-mails I receive from readers who tell me that they receive absentee ballots that should never have been sent, such as for long-deceased former residents, and duplicate ballots for wives under both the maiden and married names.
My confidence in the system to prevent more than, say, 130 illegitimate ballots to be cast is nil. It will be fascinating to see what actually shows up in the voter lists.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at December 29, 2004 06:00 AM | Email ThisI have this brilliant idea to try on for size. Instead of perusing the King County voter rolls like amateur detectives looking for fraud that doesn't exist (note, I don't mean bad votes, surely those are there), why don't you try fielding better candidates?
I'm hearing snivels and whines about "Kiev County" and the "Seattle Soviet Social-ist Republic".
Listen up guys, unlike most of you, I live in Seattle. I spent most of October pounding on doors for the loyal opposition. Seattle is where $40,000/year is a poverty-level income, $300,000 buys a starter house, and an $800/month apartment is a dump. If you think Seattleites are anti-business hippies who live on brown rice and second-hand marijuana smoke, you are frankly too dumb to be second assistant to your local precinct captain, let alone putting your hand in statewide politics.
We like business, we like capitalism, and the vast majority of the people I know have proper jobs. Where I will admit you get a bit of reactionary group-think is on social issues. We distrust hard-core Christians (or any other denomination. I won't vote for a nutjob Buddhist either), and don't like people who obsess over what goes on in their neighbor's bedrooms.
So try this. Next time around field a few decent pro-business candidates who show up with their families at Sunday services and leave it at that, instead of someone who has to distance himself from his early career as God's Man in Olympia.
You'll be ringing in New Year's 2007 with a senator who kicked Cantwell out (good riddance, BTW!) by a 60-40 vote rather than wasting time by praying for deliverance from faulty voting rolls.
4:30 am. Time to get up, eat some organic macrobiotic granola, huff some prime BC skunk weed, then do 5 miles on the treadmill before hitting the office for another 11-hour day.
Posted by: Jeremy on December 29, 2004 04:41 AMIs the Shark trying to see if we really notice? Or is he trying to hide the fact that he really posted this comment in the very middle of the night? Try and get some sleep :)
Posted by: Richard Pope on December 29, 2004 05:51 AMWhile it is indeed true that there could and should always be better candidates and that many Seattleites are good decent hard working citizens, even if they lean to the left, the obvious conclusion from even a cursory look at Stefan's analysis thus far is that there are serious problems with the voter roll in King County that most likely are affecting the outcome of this election.
Even if you believe that Rossi should just bank these anamolies as political capital to fight another day, the oppurtunity to use this as a lightening rod to fix our elections so that in the future we can actually trust the results is FAR too great to pass up.
So let's have the guts to blow the voter roll wide open and get some answers. We will all be the better for it whether we are supporting Gregoire or Rossi.
Posted by: Jeff B. on December 29, 2004 06:11 AM It really shows your lack of understanding
of who Dino rossi really is.He is not a
career politician he is man who really wants
to the change the state of washington for the better.
Whats unfortunate here is he's having to deal
with a political party that do any thing keep
its power in olympia.then have deal with his
own party that has bozo the clown for a leader.
SEXLESS VOTER REGISTRATION IS ILLEGAL! Under RCW 29A.08.210(6), a person must give their gender in order to register to vote. If gender is not provided, then the auditor must send written notice asking for this information. Registration cannot be completed until this information is provided. If the information is not provided within 45 days, the registration application is denied (presumably, without prejudice to the right to properly register).
For example, if someone submits a registration form 31 days before the election, without listing gender, they should not be put in the poll books. However, they would have the right to cast a provisional ballot, and their vote should be counted, if gender information is provided withing 45 days of the registration application being received, or by the certification date (probably at the county level on 11/17/2004, despite the 12/21/2004 Wa Supreme Ct ruling), whichever is earlier.
At least that is my interpretation of how this would apply. A person should not be disqualified simply because they file a last minute application without some required information, but instead allowed to correct it in a timely manner.
SHARK, FILE ANOTHER PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST ABOUT THE GENDERLESS VOTERS. Include a list of all the genderless voters, both on paper and electronic format. Request that King County provide information about the gender of each and every one of them. Also request copies of all correspondence concerning the gender issue for each voter.
NO WAIT -- I HAVE A BETTER IDEA. FILE 2,500 SEPARATE PUBLIC RECORDS REQUESTS, ONE FOR EACH VOTER. That way, if King County doesn't provide the information within five business days, you will be entitled to at least $5.00 per day (or up to $100.00 per day, in the court's discretion)until it is provided -- for each public records request form.
By contrast, if you put all 2,500 names on the same public records request form, a judge hearing a lawsuit under the Public Disclosure Act would have the discretion to award damages for anything between one PDA violation and 2,500 PDA violations.
I will go to Costco and donate a box or two or paper, if you want to do this :)
We could go to the media, denounce King County Elections for blatantly violating the voter registration law, and let them know that King County will be facing a mandatory assessment of up to $125,000 per day in damages if they can't provide this information in five business days :)
This might even cause Larry Phillips and Dwight Pelz to get concerned. If King County might have to pay out a lot of penalties, there would be that much less money to support their friends in the Democrat-controlled bureaucracy.
RCW 29A.08.210
Application -- Information required -- Warning.
An applicant for voter registration shall complete an application providing the following information concerning his or her qualifications as a voter in this state:
(1) The address of the last former registration of the applicant as a voter in the state;
(2) The applicant's full name;
(3) The applicant's date of birth;
(4) The address of the applicant's residence for voting purposes;
(5) The mailing address of the applicant if that address is not the same as the address in subsection (4) of this section;
(6) The sex of the applicant;
(7) A declaration that the applicant is a citizen of the United States;
(8) The applicant's signature; and
(9) Any other information that the secretary of state determines is necessary to establish the identity of the applicant and prevent duplicate or fraudulent voter registrations.
This information shall be recorded on a single registration form to be prescribed by the secretary of state.
If the applicant fails to provide the information required for voter registration, the auditor shall send the applicant a verification notice. The auditor shall not register the applicant until the required information is provided. If a verification notice is returned as undeliverable or the applicant fails to respond to the notice within forty-five days, the auditor shall not register the applicant to vote.
The following warning shall appear in a conspicuous place on the voter registration form:
"If you knowingly provide false information on this voter registration form or knowingly make a false declaration about your qualifications for voter registration you will have committed a class C felony that is punishable by imprisonment for up to five years, or by a fine of up to ten thousand dollars, or both imprisonment and fine."
There is a lot of precedent for the "fight later" option. The donks probably stole the 1998 gubernatorial election in Maryland, and they got their payback when the reps won it in 2002 (beating a Kennedy, no less!). The donks probably stole the Senate seat in South Dakota in 2002. The reps took it back in 2004, knocking off Tom Daschle in the process! The donks installed an incompetent governor in California in 2002. By the end of 2003, he was replaced by a rep. Recent history shows that sleaze and incompetence on the part of donks leads to Republican payback. I think CG Yanokovych is both sleazy and incompetent and this will come back to bite her.
On the other hand, going to the mat with electoral fraud has not been tried before and success and uncertain, there is also a risk of squandering the goodwill of voters in the center, which is currently a Republican asset. It's a risky strategy, but not without its merits, not the least of which are fairness, honesty, and the rule of law.
Honestly, I think Rossi's position is win-win no matter which course he chooses. If he comes back in '06 or '08, he will win. If he fights now, he's fighting for principle and the rule of law.
Does that sound more "thought out?"
Posted by: Matt J Kurlander on December 29, 2004 06:30 AMAny registrations made recently though, including repeated registration at two different addresses, and the hundreds at the same few addresses, are worth looking into first.
I agree on not giving up. If it were a case of losing all the counts and recounts, even if there was fraud suspected on the 3rd count, that would be different. But to win two counts only to lose the third when many people who were involved in the count are alleging fraud, that is not the same at all, and Rossi has a duty to keep fighting.
Shark, are we talking about temporary shelters specifically designed for particularly categories? Such as one place being a temporary shelter for the homeless, another place being a temporary shelter for released convicts, etc.?
Or is this simply an express of your belief (a rather valid belief, by the way), that temporary shelters in general tend to attract the less fortunate or less whatever, such as the homeless, released convicts, mentally ill, runaway teenagers, etc.?
There is nothing inherently wrong with a homeless person using the temporary shelter address. The bit about registering at a public building is simply a WAC regulation, designed to facilitate the difficult situation faced by homeless people who really do want to vote. If they tend to sleep on the south lawn of the courthouse, then the elections office is a logical address. However, if they tend to be at a particular shelter a lot (or happen to be staying there when helpful shelter staff convince them to register), I don't see the problem with using the shelter address instead.
On the other hand, a Washington voter who really does have a valid residence in this state, should not be allowed to register at a public building.
A U.S. citizen, except for those in the military, should not be allowed to use a public building as their address (or any other address in this state for that matter), if their real address (i.e. mailing address) is in another U.S. state or territory. They must register in the state or territory in which they live.
A U.S. citizen living abroad is entitled to register in the U.S. state or territory of their last residence. Yes, a child born to Indian parents while one of them was attending grad school at UW (18 or more years ago of course) is a U.S. citizen, and is entitled to vote here, even if his parents flew back to India a few weeks or month after his birth. But this person should be registered in the neighborhood where his parents last lived, or failing that, at the hospital listed on his U.S. birth certificate.
If there is a residence specifically for released convicts, odds are very heavy that the person was not eligible to vote when registering. Unless their conviction was only a misdemeanor, in which case they could have registered using the King County Jail address and voted by absentee, even during their incarceration.
If they had a felony conviction, your voting rights can't be restored until at least one year after your release (or after your sentencing date, if you weren't incarcerated -- minor felonies take away your right to vote, but not all felons are imprisoned). This is because all felons must have at least one year (and two or three years, I think, for many violent or sexual felons) of community supervision by the Dept. of Corrections. Voting rights must be restored by court order after the community supervision is completed, and all financial obligations are paid (lots of felons never pay them).
A shelter or halfway house for recently released convicts is most likely going to house almost all convicted felons, who are still in their community supervision period. Let's face it, shelter resources are limited, and those felons recently released are in the most need of a roof over their heads, and the opportunity for attempting honest living. So a registration at such a place should raise a red flag, and most likely will be improper.
As for the mentally ill, mental illness in itself does not disqualify a person from voting. Even if you are locked up because you are a danger to yourself or to society. Instead, you have to be adjudicated as mentally incompetent to exercise the right to vote -- having so little mental capacity as to be unable to form any sort of rational opinions as to voting. (i.e. if you are a Democrat -- j/k)
Such adjudications are almost never made in mental illness committment proceedings, because they are unnecessary to the objective (locking up and/or treating appropriate people). In criminal insanity proceedings, such a determination is also unnecessary. Usually, such a determination is only made in guardianship proceedings (such as making a relative with Alzheimers go into a home), and then usually only where appropriate. One can still be found generally incompetent in a guardianship proceeding, without their right to vote being taken away -- a separate issue the court must address.
As for runaway teenagers, I thought that most such shelters were designed for minors. But if they want to provide shelter to an 18 or 19 year old, then that is their concern, and not mine. Still, it raises suspicions, and it should be verified whether the person really exists and what their age really is.
"Many, many people are registered multiple times."
You should alreay be able to tell whether these people voted multiple times in previous elections, and soon should be able to tell the same for the current election.
Maybe if you re-thought that, you wouldn't be electing 'tennis-shoe Murray', 'Bagdad McDermott', or a city council that spends its time issuing statements to eastern Washington about dam removal. OR electing county council members that trample the property rights of rural citzens.
Go knock on some more doors. And nobody here cares what you do in your bedroom - just keep it there.
Posted by: Shaun on December 29, 2004 07:34 AMBTW, the thieves had to work pretty hard to steal this one. The invasion was caught in broad daylight. To sit back and do nothing would be an invitation to be victimized again...and the R's don't play the victim game.
Posted by: Julie on December 29, 2004 07:46 AM
I think most posters believe we have two alternatives, concession or fighting on. I know we have to prove irregularity to win the contest phase; but if Dino concedes, can't the investigation of voter irregularities go on?
Are they not two separate issues, though linked?
Posted by: South County on December 29, 2004 08:09 AMSolving my problems with your resources is the favorite tactic of a... (insert label here).
Posted by: Insufficiently Sensitive on December 29, 2004 08:30 AMAs a distant observer of Washington politics, I would say that we are now winessing the beginning of the end of the state's Democratic party.
The election hijinks in King County, the witholding of Snohomish County road money, and the new King County (again) land use laws that restrict development have all been brought to Washington by Democrats.
I feel a California type revolt in the making--if the leader of the state GOP can whip the voters into a frenzy of action to reclaim the freedoms that have been lost under the Democrats.
Good luck from Juneau, Alaska
Posted by: Grey on December 29, 2004 09:00 AMThe problem I have with your premise that we need to put forth a pro-business candidate that isn't a fundamentalist Christian is in your view of what's pro-business. Generally, pro-business is defined by what downtown dwellers in Seattle prescribe it to be. That is to say, if you work in healthcare, professional services, government, or IT, you're in a business category that's acceptable to Democrats. If you're in other forms of business such as agriculture, mining, forestry, manufacturing (real manufacturing, not assembly), or other kinds of 'environmentally unfriendly' methods of employment, you're not welcome in this state. Well, that's fine for Seattle, King County, and the other proximate cities where that has been the staple economic driver. However, in other parts of the state where all these other 'nasty' vocations exist, that luxury of picking and choosing such industry doesn't exist.
Your candidate wants the dams removed from our rivers among other areas of environmentally imbalanced improvements that will destroy our non-King County economies in the State. She wants to raise several billions in road taxes to replace the Alaskan Way viaduct. She wants to raise other taxes (presumably on business) to pay for children's health insurance. This will openly invite people from other states that don't have insurance, likely not high contributors to our economy, into Washington so they can take advantage of the many perks that we, as taxpayers, foot the bill for.
There are numerous other negative impacts to business that your party has boosted while in power. Labor and Industries is out of control. Unemployment insurance is out of control. The premiums in both these areas are going up at rates that are impossible to recapture in competitive pricing when compared to other states. Not only will we not attract new business, we likely will lose plenty of existing businesses who either move to more friendly states, or go out of business altogether. With Democrats at the helm, we who aren't in the business of taking advantage of other's misfortunes will continue to suffer greatly and at an accelerating rate.
No, we had the right candidate. Dino Rossi has a much better grasp of what business, in total, in this state needs; relief from an over-reaching, over-bearing State government. We need, more than anything, relief from lawyers and bureaucrats who have made life in Washington favorable only to themselves. Both classes of profession are parasitic by nature. They don't produce tangible products with tangible value-added features. They aren't currency importers, they only recycle currency within our own state. That's what Seattlites consider to be good economic and business development. The rest of us who are out here trying to make products that we can sell to others outside our own borders are considered pariahs, yet we're the ones who generate the incomes and provide the best, really the only, non-professional jobs that pay living wages. And your elitist party can only look down your long noses at us.
When it comes to true economic and business development, you don't have a clue. Get on your treadmill and run your self out of the state. King County stands alone as its own mecca. The rest of us have to live with your little surreal world view. Please, create your own state and leave the rest of us alone. We don't need your professional advice. Look where it's already gotten us.
Posted by: Bill on December 29, 2004 09:33 AMYeah, I understand what you are saying, I just wanted to make the point (and the topic of Stefan's post) that we all as citizens of a supposedly very free, civil, objective government owe it to ourselves to investigate all the problems on the King County voter roll and clean up our elections.
As South County pointed out, Dino does not necessarily have to continue for this to happen, however I think most would agree that if Dino were to concede, the wind would no longer fill the sails of the investigation.
And Grey, don't forget the egregious 300 foot Wetlands Setback that Pierce County recently enacted, that leaves many residents with a costly legal battle just to build on their property.
As Larry noted in another post, the meteor has hit and the Demosoars are on their way to extinction with an electorate (even the mainstream Dems in Seattle) that is increasingly frustrated with the encroaching bureaucracy and refusal of leaders like Ron Sims to really pay attention to their will.
Posted by: Jeff B. on December 29, 2004 09:34 AMAll Others-
As for hobo's voting - I do recall that residency for place of voting also stipulates that one is a resident for X days in the State to prove residence (e.g. bring in a water bill or driver's licence when registering). I doubt the hobo's could not show they have lived in the state for the appropriate number of days before KingCo accepted their registrations
So, Democrats get 8 weeks, and Republicans have to act quickly or suffer the wrath of the people?
I would think that Mr. Berendt would want this to drag out more if he really thinks that the public would turn against the Republican Party. Berendt knows that public is turning against the Demos, and he and CG are only treading water for now.
Conceding the election now might turn more people against Rossi, if they preceive him as someone that is not willing to go the distance. To concede would only tell everyone that the Demos won fairly, which no sane person actually believes.
Posted by: JG on December 29, 2004 09:53 AMSeattle is not the center of the universe.
Posted by: Ferrous on December 29, 2004 10:07 AMWHAT DO WE WANT? CLEAN ELECTIONS! WHEN DO WE WANT THEM? NOW!!!"
Mr Sims and Mr. Logan, do i have to say it any more emphatically for you???
Posted by: Michele on December 29, 2004 10:21 AMYep, Berendt and the King County minions read SP as well. They know that more and more people are tuned in to talk radio and the Internet, and they know that blogs have the power to inform a lot of people.
They are scared to death of all of the statistics that Shark is digging up, because they know that when this gets to the point that the MSM has no choice but to start reporting on this story, that it will be far too late.
That's why they are calling on Rossi to concede.
As to those who wonder where all this scrutiny was when Rossi was winning, DUH, you don't contest an election that you are winning. That's why Gregoire was scrutinizing everything, and looking for every vote after the first two counts, and now she has flipped to saying that this was the greatest display of democracy, everything worked great and Rossi should concede. There should be no need for an explanation, this is pretty basic.
I am a firm believer that a qualified pool of ballot tabulation auditors should be assembled with the chosen contractor being announced at the last possible minute, as close to election day as possible to avoid colusion, bribery, whatever.
Ballots should be collected and kept under security by Brinks, Pinkerton or National Guard.
If a bonded accounting firm such as Price-Waterhouse, or Deloitte & Touche messes up, they don't get paid.
Posted by: Baynative Jim on December 29, 2004 10:56 AMI don't think Gore won Florida. The Fla Sec of State certified Bush the winner and that's the way the Fla electors voted. End of story.
Once the Wa Sec of State certifies CG, she wins. And if the Rs are smart, end of story (at least until the next election).
I applaud all the efforts to clean up the voter rolls. Although I'm not sure why you object to dead people voting...they have a more lofty perspective than us earthbound types.
Posted by: Steven on December 29, 2004 11:08 AMIMHO Rossi should contest this election for the majority of the state who is fed up with the Democratic agenda we have had to live with for too many years. This election was too close to declare a true winner.
There are obvious problems with the WA election system and the laws need to be clarified or changed for a fair election process. The only way a change will take place is for Rossi and the Republican party to persue the flaws (distributed voter fraud and/or incompetence) with the election process in THIS election.
I am not an attorney, consequently I don't understand the process that well, however, one of the changes I think is necessary (if legal),is all counties must certify the election on the same day. The fact the one county can be the last to certify is inviting fraud in a close election.
The laws must also be changed to handle the timely mailing of the military ballots.
Diane
Posted by: Diane on December 29, 2004 11:58 AM
It wasn't until the manual recount that most people (including myself) became aware of the magnitude of systemic errors and potential for fraud.
Actually, I would wonder more about the motives of the Democrats who didn't start a similar process when Rossi was ahead...
Posted by: Stefan Sharkansky on December 29, 2004 12:54 PMThat's right.
It's obvious that King County waited for all the other counties to lock themselves into a legal certification BEFORE King County added their "suspiciously found" ballots to the manual recount. How else would they know how many Gregoire ballots they needed to find before their own certification?
I think the first 10,000 ballots, which were conveniently found after Rossi showed a solid lead toward the end of the original count, should have been legally challenged immediately. Without a challenge, Gregoire was able to reduce Rossi’s lead using suspicious ballots in order to "get a recount". Didn't a recount give them an opportunity to "find more ballots"? Without a recount, Gregoire would have lost the election immediately.
So what happens in the recount? More ballots are found, which leads to another – you guessed it – recount. But once Gregoire gets ahead, the ballot counting STOPS – no matter what any court or law says.
King County got away with everything they wanted in every count. If this election is not contested, corruption will continue to ruin the true democracy in our country.
Posted by: TADD on December 29, 2004 01:09 PMWhy would anyone (read, the Democrats) not want to ensure a proper democratic republic by including everyone who should be included *and* excluding everyone who should be excluded? Because regardless what they say, they don't want representation of the people. They want power, a much different objective.
This is why I got out of high-dollar IT work - many involved didn't want to solve the actual problem. Integrity apparently didn't burden them as it doesn't burden the Democratic Party.
Now, some will complain that this unfairly attacks the rank and file Dems who actually believe the misleading propaganda statements coming from their party about "counting every vote", "working for the people", "standing up for what's right", etc. To those people I would say, "I have an open mind; show me by doing something about your beliefs and influence your party to show some integrity in this election mess."
People who don't want an accurate election process - by verifying identity and eligibility of voters, and by consistently applying a pre-agreed set of rules - are for neither democracy nor the USA, they are are against it and its citizens. To apply Animal Farm logic, they want some to be more equal than others.
Posted by: Richard on December 29, 2004 03:53 PMThey will tone down their rhetoric and attempt to sound well-meaning and almost...ack! Republican!
The reason they do not want Rossi to win the Governors race is the power that the position wields. Though Cantwell's position is formidible....the Gov has veto power....
Expect to hear the pleas to concede heat up in the next week...as the Republicans continue to gather evidence against King County. It's amazing to see what they and of course Sharky have found with regard to voter irregularity...Imagine what more has been found that is not being released to the media.....
Posted by: Deborah on December 29, 2004 05:23 PM