The voter database now includes Whatcom County.
Speaking of which, Whatcom had a larger number (relative to the size of the county) of people voting at the County Administration Building than King County had.
37 people voted in November using a residence of 311 Grand Ave, Bellingham. All but two of them registered in 2004, and all but two of them list 311 Grand Ave as their mailing address. (One lists a military address, another lists an address in Canada). Everybody who "lives" at the Whatcom County Admin building voted absentee and all but one has permanent absentee status.
The WAC that authorizes voter registration at a public building says this:
WAC 434-208-100 Registering to vote -- Nontraditional address. No person registering to vote, who meets all the qualifications of a registered voter in the state of Washington, shall be disqualified because of a nontraditional physical address being used as a residence address. Nontraditional addresses may include shelters, parks or other identifiable locations which the voter deems to be his/her residence. Voters using such an address will be registered and precincted based on the location provided. Voters without a traditional address will be registered at the county courthouse, city hall or other public building near the area that the voter considers his/her residence. Registering at a nontraditional address will not disqualify a voter from requesting ongoing absentee voter status provided the voter designates a valid mailing address.I guess Whatcom County interprets this to mean that while designating a valid mailing address will not disqualify a voter from requesting ongoing absentee status, not designating a valid mailing address will not disqualify a voter from requesting ongoing absentee status either. Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at February 03, 2005 12:20 AM | Email This
Question 1: How did they receive and return their verification card?
Question 2: How did they receive and return their absentee ballot?
Does the county have "mailboxes" for these voters? How are they receiving their mail? Or, are the standard mailing requirements waived elsewhere in the statues?
Just asking.
Posted by: JeanneB on February 3, 2005 06:00 AMSpammers??? Huh? The database doesn't publish email addresses.
What is stopping junk mailers from harvesting the database?
It is not possible to simply "harvest" the data.
1) You have to query using very specific information. i.e. you already have to know somebody's name or address to get their voter info.
2) We don't post complete information
3) Anybody who wants to create a bulk mailing list can get the data more conveniently and cheaply elsewhere
There are voters who are not listed in the phone book and you are betraying their privacy by displaying their personal information on the internet with out their permission. Where is the justice in that?
I'm not betraying anybody's privacy. These are all public records. Anybody who wants to get the data can get it easily and cheaply through other means.
The justice is that voter data are public records and state election officials insist that it's the public's duty, not the government's duty to safeguard the integrity of the voter rolls. This is one small contribution towards that goal.
She painted him as a man obsessed with victory at the cost of the common people. I was seething.
I wrote to her:
Ms. Balter,
I find it supremely ironic that you express so much sympathy for cash-strapped counties and their potential bankruptcy from the attempt to correct a broken system, and yet you have nothing to say about the fact that the state imposes ridiculus monetary demands through the "art tax" that drains hundreds of millions from county and private coffers. But that isn't important, is it?
Objective and critically-thinking citizens recognize this tactic. When liberal Democrats have their backs against the wall and have no legitimate defense of their position, they drag out the old canard of expressing deep concern for the welfare of the common people.
Yeah, right. As if Democrats have ever had the best interests of citizens at heart. If you really believe that, then you are a sad, sad case to be pitied above all people. What you fail to realize is that the citizens have read your playbook, and we aren't going to let you sucker us again.
Whatever the outcome of this Friday's hearings, you can be assured of one thing: sooner or later, the Democratic Barbie Dreamhouse will be coming down. So enjoy it while you can.
Posted by: ERNurse on February 3, 2005 10:35 AMTrust me, there are many other lists, databases, etc., that are much easier to mine than to use this list. If you want to crack down on the easy availability of lists, crack down on, oh, companies that sell all that information off every warranty card you've ever innocently filled out and sent in...
And as far as being able to access "private" information more easily...I have an unlisted and unpublished phone number. Yet despite my best efforts, you can "Google" me and I show up...with my home phone number, address, even my cell number.
Posted by: SnoCo Voter on February 3, 2005 12:26 PMIs anyone else getting this?
In 2004 -(more than any previous year, by far!)HUNDREDS...POSSIBLY THOUSANDS of people registered to vote in the State of Washington - using County office buildings as their RESIDENCE addresses - AND - using OUT OF STATE, OUT OF COUNTRY, or RENTED POST OFFICE BOXES as their MAILING addresses. Allowing non-residents, non-citizens and other illegal voters to vote virtually anonymously - without eligibility verification!
Bottom line - there could be thousands of people who voted in the November election - who were NOT legal voters of Washington State! This is incredible! It may have seriously impacted the outcomes of many races in this state! Who in the heck orchestrated this bogus 2004 registration effort?
This was not a random idea.
Posted by: Deborah on February 3, 2005 01:32 PM