A number of registered sex offenders have voted in King County.
For some examples, go to the Level 2 and 3 registered sex offender search page and look up zip code 98104.
I don't want to post any actual names, but you can verify for yourself against the Seattle Times voter database.
The level 3 offender convicted of Indecent Liberties (class A or B felony) cast an absentee ballot.
The level 2 offender convicted of 1st degree Child Molestation (a class A felony) voted at the polling place.
It is possible that these offenders have had their rights restored, but the odds are against it.
hat tip: An alert reader.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at January 06, 2005 12:16 PM | Email ThisThe odds of their voting being proper are higher, I believe, than if you had taken people from the convicted felon population at large.
Sex offenders are much more likely to be normal, in terms of education, motivation, and determination, than an average convicted felon (who are likely to be thiefs, drug addicts, or personally disfunctional -- or all of the above).
Most of the convicted felons who don't have their rights restored is because they fail to pay their fines and restitution. This percentage is much higher among thiefs and robbers, since they have to pay back the value of the goods they stole.
On the other hand, the database only includes Level 2 and Level 3 sex offenders. These people are less likely to earn money and pay fines than Level 1 sex offenders. And you have selected the 98104 zip code -- a haven for lowlifes and losers.
I would think that the vast majority of Level 1 sex offenders, who have been out of prison for more than the one to three years of community supervision (i.e. post-release supervised probation) required, have probably also paid their financial obligations, and had their voting rights restored.
Posted by: Richard Pope on January 6, 2005 12:46 PMQuoted from http://www.lawyerscomm.org/ep04/50states/wash.pdf
"If you were convicted of an infamous crime in Washington after July 1, 1984:
Your right to vote is automatically restored upon completion of your sentence and receipt of a certificate of discharge from the sentencing court. When you have completed all requirements of your sentence, including any and all legal financial obligations, the secretary of state or the secretary’s designee shall notify the sentencing court which shall discharge you and provide you with a certificate of discharge. The discharge shall have the effect of restoring your voting rights lost by operation of law upon conviction."
1) If Dino Rossi seriously thought that the margin of error was so small that we didn't know who the legitimate governor of Washington was, why didn't he call for a revote when his margin was just 42, smaller than Gregoire's now?
2) The poll workers who watched these provisional ballots supposedly go into the ballot machines unchallenged, why didn't they come up to the plate when Rossi was ahead by 42?
Rossi wasn't leading any statewide poll, and at best, he didn't come close to Gregoire by more than 5% on any poll before the election. For it to come out this close, it seems that the Republicans had more reason to stuff the ballot box than we did...
Posted by: DustinJames on January 6, 2005 01:00 PMA check of felons (convicted in the past two years) who voted in Pierce County reveals that less than 5% had their rights restored with a Certificate of Discharge. For the most part, they have ongoing finacial obligations to victims or to the court which precludes restoration of their rights. It will be a breeze to find a couple of hundred felons who voted in the Puget Sound area without first obtaining a Certificate of Discharge.
Posted by: Harris on January 6, 2005 01:01 PM
http://www.orbusmax.com/
Posted by: VaCSProf on January 6, 2005 01:11 PMHowever, I bet there is a treasure trove of felons voting in Walla Walla County.
Matter of fact, I bet Walla Walla has the highest rate of felons voting of any county in the state.
Posted by: Erik on January 6, 2005 01:12 PMAnd the polls you are writing of, that never showed Rossi within 5%, were they from the Mass Media and large newspapers in Seattle? I think that says it all. You obviously were not privy to the candidates internal polling. Rossi's internal polls showed him neck-and-neck, sometimes up a point or two. Betcha didn't know that!
And once again, do we have to explain to you that Rossi's campaign couldn't start speaking of legal challenges until he was actually HARMED? It's difficult to claim that you have been harmed when you are Governor-elect. What is Rossi supposed to say - "Gregoire got votes from thousands of illegally cast ballots, but I STILL won!" How $h!tty would that sound???
Rossi and the Republicans specifically asked all election and poll workers to document EVERYTHING they saw in case it had any bearing on the matter. It takes time to aggregate and filter through all this information from hundreds of polling places. DUH.
Rossi certainly could have called for a revote when he was in the lead, just as he says Christine can do it now that she is in the lead. He didn't need to wait til he was behind. It would have made his call for a re-vote a lot more credible if he wasn't telling Christine to concede when he had just a 42 vote margin...
DUH.
And tell me again what sort of poll worker is just going to sit and watch "over 300" provisional ballots go into the machine. Did he confront the people doing it? That guy's credibility is next to nil in my opinion, he was working at the precinct, saw what was going on supposedly, didn't say dink about it until now, and now he's the Republican's star witness.
Credibility: 0%
Posted by: DustinJames on January 6, 2005 01:24 PMhttp://www.komotv.com/stories/34693.htm
Posted by: CR ACTIVIST on January 6, 2005 01:28 PMThe officials at King County have already admitted to this happening in a Wednesday Seattle Times article. This happened it isn't something I dreamed up! You should be extremely bothered that it did. Hundreds of ballots were counted before they had a chance to be verified. These ballots can not be traced whether the person that has submitted the ballot is valid voter or not.
Posted by: Joe on January 6, 2005 01:32 PM
Let the party begin !
And again, I repeat:
And tell me again what sort of poll worker is just going to sit and watch "over 300" provisional ballots go into the machine. Did he confront the people doing it?
Why did he not do anything about the situation he obviously knew something was wrong with?
Prior actions factor heavily in the credibility of a witness.
Posted by: DustinJames on January 6, 2005 01:36 PMFrom what I read, one poll worker said he personally viewed over 300 provisional ballots being deposited into the machines...
Posted by: DustinJames on January 6, 2005 01:37 PM300 didn't go through at one polling site. A few to a few dozen at polling places, over 550 polling sites, all over King County
She's essentially trying to guilt us into accepting the legitimacy of her highly suspect 129 vote margin. I mean, c'mon, her daughter bought her dress, how can we back out now even if we've found felons, illegally voted ballots, people who have voted twice, etc.?
Republicans have truly taken this too far if, heaven forbid, her daughter bought her dress for the ball already.
Sorry Christine, your vote chariot has already turned back into a pumpkin. There's not going to be a ball.
Posted by: Jeff B. on January 6, 2005 02:07 PMSo what you're saying is that Rossi should have called for a re-vote BEFORE Gregoire stole the election? Whatever.
Face it - the Democrats stuffed the ballot box, and there was no reason for Rossi to concede when he garnered the most votes in an honest manner. That's why he hasn't conceded yet - he's still garnered the most votes in an honest manner.
The person who reported the stuffed ballot boxes was at the site COLLECTING THE ENVELOPES, not at a polling place - read the posts, will you?
And as for his credibility being zero, you're saying that he STILL has more credibility than you?
Posted by: Larry on January 6, 2005 02:14 PM"At a Bellevue news conference, Vance produced a Republican-appointed King County election worker, Joe O'Donnell, who said he personally witnessed about 150 to 300 provisional ballots go straight into AccuVote tabulating machines on Election Day without any voter verification."
So, is the PI misquoting you? Or did you somehow PERSONALLY witness these 150 to 300 provisional ballots being fed into the tabulating machines in 550+ polling places around the county? Which is it, they can't both be true. Have you filed an affidavidt to this effect? Are you aware of the legal repurcussions of filing a false affidavidt (e.g. claiming to have personally witnessed things, which you did not?)?
Posted by: John on January 6, 2005 02:27 PM
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aplocal_story.asp?category=6420&slug=WST%20Washington%20Governor
OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Two people have filed challenges to the governor's election with the state Supreme Court, firing the first shots in the anticipated legal battle over the amazingly close contest.
Posted by: Cliff on January 6, 2005 02:28 PMA lot of these people vote Republican. Probably not a majority, but probably a higher percentage than persons convicted of drug, theft, or physical violence felonies. Also, most felons, sex or otherwise, happen to be male, a group which is more Republican leaning than the other gender.
If every registered sex offender in this state (with legal voting rights, of course) had voted for the same candidate for Governor (and all other things being equal), whoever that person might be -- that person would have an unquestioned majority right now.
Now, if we could get a database of people on Department of Corrections supervision, whether it be the one to three year community parole supervision, or failure to pay off financial obligations -- that would be a much better data source.
BIAW has an extensive database of criminal history, all downloaded from the public records computer maintained by the Administrator for the Courts. BIAW members can use the data when hiring employees. (Boy, if you are in construction, you get a lot of the unfortunates and lowlifes who want a job.) Let's trust their search capabilities on this issue.
Posted by: Richard Pope on January 6, 2005 02:34 PMThe ballots I witnessed were actually during the pollbook audit process.
Posted by: Joe on January 6, 2005 02:37 PM2 months after the election and this is the first time we're hearing of it. Strange, why didn't you pipe up when Rossi was in the lead? Your certainly would have wanted a fair election from the get-go, correct? Why didn't you say anything when Rossi was ahead by 42 votes?
Maybe it's this... (from the Seattle times, emphasis added by me):
Two King County election workers, both Republicans, yesterday said they believe hundreds of provisional ballots were illegally fed through vote-counting machines on Election Day.
Sounds like a case of "Oh no, my candidate is losing, time to start inventing stories". You would have more credibility had you come forward sooner, and not waited more than 2 months after the ballot casting is over.
Posted by: DustinJames on January 6, 2005 02:38 PMTake the information to the Washington State Republican
Party. They'll take care of it.
Why didn't I come out sooner? I felt I didn't have to. All of my supervisors at King Co. elections knew about it. It wasn't until early this week when King County tried to play off the difference in ballots to signatures (approx. 3,500) did I realize that I was going to have to be the one to bring this to light.
Should there be reform in how provisional ballot system to safeguard it! Absolutely. You are right and I believe we will see reform including provisionals, and how frequent the dead are purged from the rolls, and felony voting to help limit fraud in future elections.
However when he talks about a Poll worker calling BS out these 300 Provisonal votes stuffed into the machines prior to verification; if I'm not mistaken that took place a mere few weeks ago not back on Nov 2nd?
Am I wrong here?
I like your tenacity but I think your a bit of partisan hack.
Posted by: bob on January 6, 2005 03:01 PMWhat I would love to know is how many felons in prison are still on the voting rolls across the state. That will tell you what areas need to be checked very carefully. If you find certain counties that do not clean up the database for felons in Prison odds are they may have a very large number of felons that voted. Even more interesting would be did any of them vote by absentee ballot? I know that college kids in Philadelphia registered people in Prison. I guess College kids know who is a felon and who isn't. Or maybe they dont care. They just want to register everyone and really mess up the voter rolls.
If you are a felon and have not met your required obligations, then they do not have the right to vote. IF they did well they should face criminal charges. Because it is a crime. I would love an honest analysis of the databases. Taking the Statewide sex offender list cross check it against the list of those who had gotten their voting rights restored. THose left over searched for any voter fraud. From the data I have seen I can not prove fraud all I can say is that here are 22 possible felons that dont have a right to vote. I dont have the tools to verify it any further than just a guess that they may not be eligible to vote.
King county is know for being pretty slack and has had a lot of election problems in the past. So I think it could be a very likely that most of them may not have the right to vote. They dont check the homeless yet want a ton of information from those how own homes to prove they really do live in their house. I would just love to see a large number of suspected felons brought to the attention of King County and have them do the verifications required. THey have the access to all the required records. They are the ones that have to be responsible for a clean election. IF they dont clean up the database properly then you can never have a clean election. And every result in King county is suspect. Any initiative vote is suspect. KIng county has shown how incompetent they are. Lets put in the screws to get them to clean up their act. Then maybe in the future fraud will less likely be possible. And maybe we can have some surprising results in elections in the future.