April 05, 2005
Uncounted ballots discovered in Pierce County
Pierce County auditor says ‘small number’ surfaced in records check
Pierce County election workers have discovered “a small number” of ballots that were not counted in the disputed November election.
County Auditor Pat McCarthy, who oversees the county’s election system, said Monday that workers came across the ballots while sorting through tens of thousands of envelopes. They’re working to comply with a public records request stemming from the contested governor’s race.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at April 05, 2005
07:22 AM | Email This
1. Interesting... the P-I has a poll today:
Do you think the King County election chief should resign?
I wonder what the results will show...
2. And we need all mail elections? Unbelievable! Who in their right mind thinks that it will be fair, transparant and honest? This is like the funky pink bunny who keeps going and going and going!
Maybe Washington and Oregon are really red and we've been lied to!
3. I wonder if this will be the catalyst for a return to sanity? Whether this is fraud or mere incompetence, it can only happen in a system where large numbers of votes are cast by mail.
4. Isn't it strange how the Counties that fail miserably at reconciling elections are run by democrats? Is it incompetence, criminality, or do they just not care enough about the individual voter to get it right?
5. Andy - And not just in Washington. It is not as well known as it should be but nearly all the 2000 Florida problems were in counties with Democratic election boards. And the worst problems were in Democratic counties with recent histories of vote fraud, such as Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach.
(Florida has an even more decentralized system that Washington does, by the way.)
6. With Phillips apparently on board, looks like the beginnings of a liberal sector collapse.
7. Pat McCarthy offers to lay her head on the chopping block:
“In my opinion, everything that Dean Logan has done has been open and forthcoming,” she said. “With so much scrutiny, we’re all only going to get better.”
Watch yer own back, Pat. Methinks you have plenty to ponder on your own ;'}
8. I hear and read many times that in all instances where elections were "messed up" or not reliable the election boards were run by Democrats. There are a few theories on why this is the case and here's another one.
Those places are run by people who really don't care about the issues at hand, providing a clean and reliable election. They are run by people who are convinced they will win or have won already. Whether it is Florida, Chicago, King County...Dems think they'll win. Therefore, who cares about the actual numbers...who cares about the clean handling, who cares about...well, anything.
But when things turn around (like more republican voters than forecast in Broward, Dade and other FL counties), when all of a sudden the republican candidate for Gov is leading the perceived winner the Dems have "chosen"...things are hitting the fan and people scramble...what to do, what to do...and then...mistakes happen (or should I say...things are not covered up completely and come back to hunt them). If the election wouldn't have been so close, very little investigation would have been done and we'd have status quo. Dems won, as expected, case close, let's go on and not care for the next election.
But this time, things didn't turn out as expected and the scrambling began.
just a thought
9. From the article:
***We’ve been asking ourselves ‘how could this happen?’” [Co. auditor Pat McCarthy] said. “We go through them twice. So we’re going to put in place a three-step process to go through the outer envelopes.”***
Doh! If you counted them TWICE, you couldn't possibly have missed this. Were they counting total ballots and then total envelopes---which should have matched? Doesn't sound like it.
10. ah there are two Andy's posting now. The PI poll has a resounding 64% yes on the KC elections chief resigning.
11. It's not at all surprising that Dem vote screw-ups/fraud problems are virtually all in Dem counties. One democrat in California who voted four times said "he cared more" than other people. And another cheating Dem admitted "If we didn't cheat we wouldn't win". (from an article I obtained last year from California republicans about investigations into Dem vote fraud in Kern county). Can you believe the mindset of these people?? totally unacceptable!
12. This whole story seems concocted in an effort by a fellow democrat county elections supervisor to help cover for Dean Logan.
"If it also happened in Pierce County, it's an example of innocent human errors or mistakes in King county."
The problem is that most of us ain't buyin it anymore.
13. I understand some of the newly found ballots were inadvertently stuffed into somebody's socks, which is why they were not discovered earlier.
Somebody by the name of Berger reported this.
14. I understand some of the newly found ballots were inadvertently stuffed into somebody's socks, which is why they were not discovered earlier.
Somebody by the name of Berger reported this.
15. Perhaps Pravda-Izvestia (PI) should conduct a poll on whether Ron Sims should resign? Or why stop there, Phoney Governor Gua-Gua.....?
16. I'm with the poster who finds the timing of Pat McCarthy's "Ooops! We did it, too!" very suspicious. I expect this announcement was intended to divert attention from King County's negligence and soften the blow for Logan.
And don't forget - Pat McCarthy owes Logan. Big time. Dean Logan hired her son, Conor McCarthy, at an outrageously high rate per hour. Throughout 2004, Conor made more than most of the SUPERVISORY staff in the office -- annualizes to about $50,000/yr. His big job was to send pre-written e-mails to voters who wrote general inquiries to the election office via e-mail. He didn't even have to compose them! They were pre-written for him! An entry level high school graduate could have done this job for $10.00 an hour.
One thing Logan did accomplish is to realize an efficiency in combining two important government functions: nepotism and unnecessary overspending.
17. I believe Terry and Susan B. Anthony are right ... this is an attempt to divert attention from problems in King County under the "Ah Shucks .. everybody screwed up ... lets fix it the next time" theory. Don't recall this being mentioned in Reed's road show by him or his posse of association auditors. I think this is a deliberate effort to "pad" the numbers. I have absolutely no trust in either the PC or KC auditor's office.
18. I've said it before and say it again...Logan and Sims underestimated the "New Media". With the possibility of a Federal Investigation and the ongoing exposure of (to borrow a phrase from the Gregoire's lapdog: Berendt)...this election has given us an "accidental-Governor".
Once we elect a Governor (hence nullifying this election), do all of Gregoire's tax-hikes and appointments become nullified as well? Anyone? Anyone?
19. I had mixed feelings about voting Yes on the p-i's poll to have Logan resign. I don't want him to resign; I want him to be fired, big time, with a detailed list of every screw-up and cover-up he's foisted on us! His resigning would help them sweep it under the rug. On the other hand, if one votes No, it'll be taken as "Dean Logan's doing a fine job."
Susan B., I never heard about the nephew before. The stink from King Co. gets worse.
20. Thanks for the hat tip, Shannon, but credit goes to Stefan who wrote about the family connection between Logan and his two biggest supporters among the county auditors. Go check his March 20th posting and your jaw will drop.
Kitsap County Auditor Karen Flynn is his wife's boss, and Pierce County Auditor Pat McCarthy is his friend/employee's mommy.
21. flexnfx
Unfortunately, since she is the sitting governor, her signed bills be passed by the legislature will remain law. Her executive orders are more redily reversible.
22. Check out the News Tribune article. "McCarthy declined to say how many overlooked ballots have been discovered, saying it’s “a small number” and that election workers will probably find more this week." Yes, more to come ...
23. I guess this kind of blows their theory about a hand recount being more accurate than the machine count.
24. Gil.... So True...
I am wondering how those 93 ballots survived "unopened" through 3 counts. Just think about it....WOW....Good security I guess...(teasing)
25. The scene opens in a smoke filled room. (OK, work with me)
Faceless persons seem to be tabulating something.
We move closer to find one person on the phone, the others playing 'football' with a (uncounted) folded Rossi ballot.
The person on the phone is heard to say, 'Hey, Logan, how many MORE 'mystery ballots' do we need to close this deal?
You are sure that the public is so STUPID they won't know what happened!? OK!
Oh, and I hadn't had a chance to thank you, for hiring my cousin's kid to shred Rossi ballots for $50,000/Yr. I owe you.
I'm going to cruse some of the 'victory' parties and get lucky. You too!? See you there!