Dean Logan, Sam Reed and our other underperforming election officials have been telling us for months now that the ballot/voter discrepancy shouldn't matter. There is no need to have accounting checks in place to ensure integrity because (from Logan's "comprehensive report"):
State election laws address ballot security and accountability on the front end of the elections process - at the polls, in ballot counting centers and throughout the verification processAfter scanning dozens of King County poll books, it's clear that "front end" security is rubbish. The hundreds of unverified provisional ballots are just one indication of bogus "front-end security".
Here is just one other example, found in the poll book from precinct SEA 11-1638, voting at the New Holly Neighborhood Campus, a facility of the Seattle Housing Authority in South Seattle:
[click for larger image]
The voter in question had a "pending" registration, meaning that they had recently registered by mail and are required by federal HAVA to show identification at the polls. The pollbook shows that the voter received a ballot (by the number in the "Ballot Number Given Voter" column) even though they "forgot to sign" the poll book. It's not clear whether or not they actually showed valid ID. The ballot appears to have been counted. The voter was credited.
The front-end security doesn't seem to be much better with the absentees, given the fact that King County counted nearly 500 more absentee ballots than absentee voters.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at March 16, 2005 11:44 AM | Email ThisI imagine people would be appalled, but that of course wouldnt stop the criminals in KC like Sims and Logan from fixing elections since they have been caught and are just blowing it off as irrelevant.
Unless there is a real penatly like jail time vs. nusinace PR requirements for these busy "Servants" nothing will ever change.
This sham internal investigation where they find themselves innocent (big surprise) can best be described as a fashion show designed to highlight the emperors new clothes.
Well at least they are following the communist party pattern by staging "Show trials" and being true to their philisophical roots.
Have you ever tried to cash a check at a bank where the funds reside and you are not a member of that bank? I had a WA State Driver's License a US Social Security Card and a credit card and they still wouldn't cash the check for me. I finally got it cashed when I complained to the bank manager of failing to release funds on a valid check and valid identification with funds available.
I spent more time and more hassle trying to cash a $90.00 check from my uncle than it takes to get registered as a voter in this state.
The problem with the voter registration is there is never a point where there is verification of citizenship status. The minimum status requires a photo ID which can be obtained by either a citizen or a non-citizen.
I believe that our voting privileges should be protected and verification of citizenship of the United States and residency of Washington State must be established before you are given the privilege of voting.
Mike L
Vancouver, WA
You know, all the laws in the world, all the training in the world, won't make a difference if there is deliberate fraud. It doesn't have to be all that big, just a few votes here and there, "distributed" (where have we heard that before?) properly, appearing to make it look like a bunch of unrelated, "innocent mistakes", part of "a very human process", yet enough to make a difference in a close election.
This election may indeed be noted in history as a "model election", but with a meaning other than that Fraudoire implied. More like a model for subtle, innocuous-looking, yet decisive, fraud.
Posted by: Interested Observer on March 16, 2005 01:23 PMPerhaps you misunderstood what Logan et al really meant.
The reconciliation effort reflected in the big binder has nothing to do with trying to identify and remove ballots that were unlawfully put into the ballot box by way of the AccuVote machine.
What he meant was that he makes no effort at all after the ballots are cast to identify those illegitimate ballots, to remedy the situation created by their presence in the vote tabulation process, or to inform the canvassing board and public of the magnitude of the problem.
He only makes an effort "at the front end" to ensure that ballots aren't unlawfully put into the vote tabulation process via the ballot box or absentee voting. (And, of course, the amount and effectiveness of the effort he puts into this "front end" security are debatable, to put it mildly.)
Posted by: Micajah on March 16, 2005 02:55 PMPaul Berendt and the other Gregoire spokespeople have repeated this "FRONT-END SECURITY" mantra over & over again spinning what Logan said into the fact that there were absolutely no illegitimate votes because of Logan's "FRONT-END security. So even though they cannot reconcile votes and voters, we should all rest assured that all votes counted are legitimate. THAT'S WHAT THEY ARE SPINNING! It's pure BS.
FRONT-END SECURITY????? My Back-End!!!
Posted by: Mr. Cynical on March 16, 2005 03:48 PMObviously Logan did not present all the discrepancies if the number keeps morphing into a much bigger number. Logan has screwed himself. He is so screwed, he sees no way out except to minimize, marginalize, deflect and deny.
Just wait until Logan is deposed.
I would hope someday soon Logan would be honest with the voters of Washington. I really do. Sims will never stay loyal to him when the depositions start flushing out the truth.
Posted by: Mr. Cynical on March 16, 2005 03:53 PMWhile counting during the manual recount, late in the 14 day process, (over in the yellow section), my table found an absentee in with a box of poll ballots. We stopped the counting process and identified this. We were told by the supervisor Sandy (she strongly insisted) that we should count this in with those poll ballots.
With access to the audit trail for the manual recount, the actual precinct number where this occurred could be reconstructed.
Gregg, Denny Terrace observer, and counter.
PS. Any word yet on those eight 'missing precincts' from the 43rd LD in the 82 page PDF file?
Posted by: gregg on March 17, 2005 10:04 AM