October 13, 2005
A story that only Ron Sims could believe

Today's Seattle Times and P-I both have articles about the dueling press conferences outside the King County Elections office yesterday
P-I: "Many on voter rolls twice? GOP says thousands in county could cast 2 ballots"

Times: "Voter names found twice".

What do Ron Sims and Dean Logan have to say in their defense?

Election officials and Sims quickly said yesterday that at least one name on the GOP's duplicate-voters list appeared to be a mistake — and they questioned the Republicans' motives in making a media splash.

Elections Office spokeswoman Bobbie Egan said a woman singled out by the Republican Party as having voted twice in the 2004 general election and again in the 2005 primary actually appears to be two women with the same name but different birthdates.

The only person the GOP so far alleges to have voted twice under different registrations both last November and in this September's primary is Patricia A Levesque.

Here are the two original voter registration forms, as released by King County Elections. The first was filed in 2002, the second in 2004. Other records show that the address on the first registration was changed in 2003 to 94 Bay St, the address that was given on the 2004 registration. Note that the signatures are all but identical and the birthdates are only one day apart: one is 10/15/1940, the other 10/16/1940. The handwriting on the two forms is different, suggesting that one might have been filled out by someone other than the voter who could have easily made a mistake in transcribing the birthdate. 94 Bay St. is a building of studio apartments.

Would any sane person believe that there are two different people named Patricia A Levesque, whose birthdates are one day apart and who have identical signatures and share a studio apartment? Of course not. But Ron Sims and his spokeswoman believe it!

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at October 13, 2005 10:40 AM | Email This
Comments
1. Stefan,

Did the change of address on the first include an apartment number? Where is it relative to #306?

I don't know why Ron has a problem with a day off in 65 years - surely that is an accuracy any bank would envy. One day in 23,739 days of her life. That is 99.9957876% accurate!

Posted by: fred on October 13, 2005 11:03 AM
2. Torches and pitchfork time yet?

Wife: Honey the Netflix movies are here.

Hubby: Whad'we get?

Wife: A chick flick movie for me.
A movie for the kids.
And for you, surprise, Braveheart again!

Hubby: Oh, goodie, goodie.

Wife: Honey what are your doing with that pitchfork.

Hubby: Oh, nothing. You goin' to the garage? Can you put it away for me?

(Wife takes pitchfork, shakes head and heads to garage.)

Hubby: Let's see, DVD open. Braveheart in. Loading, loading. Aaaahhhhhhhh, life!

(Narrator aside to audience - Sad isn't it?)

Posted by: Jericho on October 13, 2005 11:30 AM
3. This seems easliy solved, all Ron and Bobbie have to do is have a press conference with Patricia A Levesque (1) and Patricia A Levesque (2) at the same time and the same place to prove they exist! Maybe they could hold it at 94 Bay street, the subsidized housing complex for formerly homeless people that they supposedly live at. We could even have them sign their names (identically) live, on the air to show how thier signatures match as well. Now that's reality TV.

Posted by: Roscoe on October 13, 2005 11:36 AM
4. I just called the housing group that runs the building that Patricia Levesque lives in. The person I spoke with mentioned that all units in that building are studios, and by law only one individual can live in a unit...

So according to Bobbie Egan, this is a simple case of 2 people with the same name, at the same address, with birthdays only one day off, in a building where only one person can reside - Obviously no voter fraud going on here...

Posted by: Hard R on October 13, 2005 11:37 AM
5. There is an easy explanation of different handwriting that agrees with Stephan's assessment... I often fill out forms for my wife and she signs them...and I have made mistakes before such as putting down the wrong social security number.

Posted by: timman on October 13, 2005 11:38 AM
6. Why are there two crossed out and "corrected" fields in the first registration form? The two fields are "last name" and "last 4 digits of social security #". Who would get both of those wrong when filling out a form?

Posted by: Gary on October 13, 2005 11:39 AM
7. But I never forget to get her birthday right (or our anniversary)! That would be courting disaster!

Posted by: timman on October 13, 2005 11:41 AM
8. Easy answer - Identical twins. The first born at 23:58 on the 15th and the second born at 00:12 on the 16th. The parents had a sense of humor and named them almost the same - their middle names being different, but both starting with A.

Republicans are so stupid and paranoid when it is so obvious!

Pssst. Ronnie. Where did you say you stashed those other ballots?

Posted by: fred on October 13, 2005 11:48 AM
9. Ronnie boy is gonna need every vote he can get hsi hands on come November. A few thousand extras never hurt anyone.

Posted by: JCM on October 13, 2005 12:10 PM
10. Wasn't their first explanation that they were mother and daughter living in different units of the same building? In that event, I'd like to meet the woman who gave birth at the ripe old age of one day old!

Posted by: katomar on October 13, 2005 12:11 PM
11. How dare you all speak ill about the King of the County Executive. Don't you know that he knows best for you all. Also, you forget....its not about who votes, it's that Ron gets to count the votes. Reminds me of the ole "1 for you - 3 for me" routine.

Posted by: Dengle on October 13, 2005 12:32 PM
12. Oh, man, that is so funny. Nobody could make this stuff up!

Posted by: BananaLand (aka Iguana) on October 13, 2005 12:40 PM
13. I wonder when the full oppression comes will the storm troopers be as stupid as Sims et al?

Likely yes.

Read about what's to come. Lew Rockwell points it out in his column on the New Orleans relief effort.

He could have titled it: We are from the government and we are here to oppress you.

Click my name.

Posted by: Jericho on October 13, 2005 12:47 PM
14. YES! I just listened to the audio again, and Dean Logan referred to this instance without mentioning the voter's name, and flat out stated as fact that they were mother and daughter. Again, I want to meet that woman who is one day older than her daughter!

Posted by: katomar on October 13, 2005 01:01 PM
15. Hard R: Good work on the investigation.
JCM: Don't worry; perhaps Ron Sims has rounded up
several thousand "nephews" to register at his house for the coming election.

Absolutely amazing. And I sure would've liked to see them explain away that 'green card' voter. That one on its face is illegal.

And how about a GOOD explanation as to why Dean Logan, near the 1st certification date, went digging through the trash (otherwise known as the Fatal Pends illegal ballot box) to get more ballots when it looked like Dino Rossi might (horrors!) actually be declared the winner? Could it be because he was told to 'get the right result'???? Or was it all his own very idea to rummage through the trash to 'get the right result'. Somethin' smells reeeeal bad here.

Look, it's over, Logan and Sims. We are SOOOO on to you. Just 'fess up and tell us you were manufacturing the desired result.

Kudos to the Republican Party for going straight to the people and telling it like it is. The people have had ENOUGH!

Posted by: Realist on October 13, 2005 01:08 PM
16. Stolen elections.

Stolen liberty.

Stolen guns.

Stolen life.

Didn't God ask the question Adam where are you?

God, where are you?

Where's justice?

Posted by: Jericho on October 13, 2005 01:18 PM
17. Dorothy, the Tin Man, Scarecrow and Toto finally reach the Emerald City. As Toto pulls back the curtain the "Wizard" is heard saying "...ignore that man behind the curtain."

Kudos, Toto, I mean Stefan.

Posted by: GMT on October 13, 2005 01:20 PM
18. Realist,
You make an excellent point about the Republicans taking it straight to the people!

Logan seemed to make a big deal about how they aired it in the media instead of bringing to him first. BUT when things are brought directly to Logan he shows a consistent record of dropping the ball or trying to hide it under a rug.

The bottom line is the voting roles are still dirty. Which could cost future candidates a fair election. If taking it to the media first is the only way to pressure Logan and Sims to clean them up so be it!


Posted by: Joe on October 13, 2005 01:25 PM
19. Ain't Google great? Interesting to check the phone number provided on the first registration:

St Charles Hotel, (206) 344-8312, 619 3rd Ave, Seattle, WA 98104

So she stayed in room 505 of a hotel in 2002. And now lives in a studio without a phone. Someone should call or visit the hotel and find out who (if anyone) stayed in room 505 on July 10, 2002.

Smells fishy.

Posted by: Beantowner on October 13, 2005 01:30 PM
20. Said poor little ol' Logan according to the P-I:
"Enough is enough. We've reached a new low," he said, flanked by dozens of his staff members in a pre-emptive news conference before the Republican presentation.

The way Logan handles elections, each one -- by definition -- is a new low.

He held a press conference to admit that?!

Posted by: Micajah on October 13, 2005 01:39 PM
21. The real kicker would be if there were no such person at all!!!!

Posted by: Andy on October 13, 2005 01:40 PM
22. Simple explanation. Star Trek. Parallel universe. Good Kirk. Bad Kirk. It all makes sense. Vote once in each universe.

Now...back to King County...where the evil "Ron-ulons" control...(evil laugh track here);

Posted by: Jimmie-howya-doin on October 13, 2005 01:43 PM
23. ... or she died and her address was changed for her. Now in the KC tradition, and because of their extra burden, dead people get two votes.

Posted by: fred on October 13, 2005 01:43 PM
24. am i the only person who knows that Bobbie Egan used to work on Sam Reed's campaign staff prior to the KC election mess.

Posted by: pete on October 13, 2005 01:56 PM
25. Ken Schram has an article on the election fiasco online at komonews.com.............. He says just fix it! and he's a liberal!

Posted by: sgmmac on October 13, 2005 02:03 PM
26. Logan: "Enough is enough. we've reached a new low." Yes, I should say so, Dean. GOING THROUGH THE TRASH (FATAL PENDS) TO FISH OUT MORE KNOWN ILLEGAL BALLOTS A COULE DAYS BEFORE THE 1ST '04 CERTIFICATION?? WHAT IN THE WORLD DO YOU CALL THAT??????

Posted by: Michele on October 13, 2005 02:03 PM
27. Seattle PI: "Logan said he could not respond to any of the allegations until he gets the underlying documentation from the Republicans."

Logan already has the "underlying documentation." It's his records that show these problems. What a moron.


Posted by: PW on October 13, 2005 02:09 PM
28. Michele.... I'd call that JOB SECURITY if I was Dean Logan.

Posted by: Roscoe on October 13, 2005 02:10 PM
29. "Enough is enough. We've reached a new low," he said, flanked by dozens of his staff members in a pre-emptive news conference before the Republican presentation.


You work for ME, putz!!!

Posted by: South County on October 13, 2005 02:23 PM
30. Do you guys really think that this electoral hanky-panky is going to hurt Ron Sims in the eyes of your typical KingCo voter? I'm sure he'll be re-elected in a landslide for going above and beyond the call of duty to keep Dems in office!

Posted by: Mark on October 13, 2005 03:08 PM
31. Logan said they were mother & daughter?

And he's waiting for the "documentation" from the "Republicans"?

He is an out-and-out criminal, is he not?

Posted by: Bostonian on October 13, 2005 03:50 PM
32. Hey, wait a minute... I'm Patricia... er... ah... yeah... prove me wrong...

Posted by: Patricia A Levesque on October 13, 2005 04:36 PM
33. Man, King County is as crooked as everyone says.

Posted by: Karl Dahlquist on October 13, 2005 05:16 PM
34. So Patty #1 and Patty #2 both request ongoing absentee ballots at transient housing. Hmm, I wonder how many absentee ballots are mailed to these places?

Posted by: maude on October 13, 2005 05:33 PM
35. Has anyone thought about with all the identity theft occuring, some of that identity theft will be used to vote in some else's name. It would be very easy - especially if you received mail of someone used to live at your current address. This would be very common in apartments!!
-Zach

Posted by: Zach on October 13, 2005 05:54 PM
36. If Ken Schram gets this as well as he does, Sims and Logan must be once again shaking in their booties.

Since when did cleaning up the election department's voter data base not become the job and responsibility of Dean Logan and his department.

He seems proud that he purged thousands of Felons from his data base. What were they doing in that data base in the first place?

How many other groups of illegal voters are in that data base?

It's like saying finding a pothole in the road is not the road departments responsibility.

I cannot believe the arogance of these people in these critical offices. It is simply amazing they are entrusted with the complete mis-management of such an important database as the legal voter database in washington state.

Bring on the November election, all of us (even Ken Schram) will be watching that every vote has a legal citizen voter.

If Ron and Dean they won't do the job they are paid handsomely for, we'll continue to expose them and do there job for them daily until they either proactively clean this mess up or until they are gone.

Welcome aboard Ken, it's about time!

Posted by: GS on October 13, 2005 06:01 PM
37. Zach - Obviously Sam Reed's press for all mail voting will clear up that idenity problem, eeh?

Posted by: Jericho on October 13, 2005 06:18 PM
38. GS - Wow, impressive. Now I see how the West was won.

Posted by: Jericho on October 13, 2005 06:21 PM
39. My vote was disinfranchised in the last Govennor's election because of all the problems that Stephan has uncovered caused by the current incumbents of the King County Elections office. What are my legal choices to make my vote count in the last election. Can I sue as an individual? Can I get lawyer pro bono to represent me? Can I get that lawyer to represent all of the voters file a civil lawsuit against Ron Sims and Dean Logan?

Posted by: timman on October 13, 2005 06:21 PM
40. Wow!

I hope Keith Ervin bites into this like a pitbull and doesn't let go! I see a turning of the media tide....and it's going *against* Ron Sims and Dean Logan....

Has the Seattle Times posted their endorsement for King County Executive yet? If they run all of these negative *exposure* stories on Sims then turn around and endorse him for KCE...they will look completely foolish...

Perhaps the Seattle Times has lost a lot of subscriptions since their biased and liberal coverage of the election contest.....? Could these recent expose's on Sims be an effort to regain their credibility and recapture business?

Let's face it - No one in their right mind believe Logan, Eagan and Sim's nonsense spin anymore....

Posted by: Deborah on October 13, 2005 10:51 PM
41. I still don’t understand why purging the voter rolls makes any difference.
Apparently anyone can just show up at a polling place and cast a vote even if they are not a registered voter. Is it not the policy of King County Elections that every vote must count?
If felons or double names are removed from the rolls, what prevents these people from showing up to cast a provisional ballot which under KKE policy must be accepted? Why can’t an unprincipled professional activist go from precinct to precinct casting provisional ballots all day long?
If we do not insist that only registered voters can vote, what is the point of having any names in a book?

Posted by: confused on October 14, 2005 07:02 AM
42. I can see you're Confused, and understand why. Obviously, no one stratagem is going to be a panacea against those who deliberately flaunt the lax election mess.

It needs to be done in a (as they say) "conscientiously applied program of election reform". Stefan has clearly & dramatically illustrated that there are too many instances of folks that don't belong on the books, so we start there. Dump the whole shebang!

Now you have a clean slate to work with. Demand legitimate proof of ID (and for god's sake verify!) in order to sign up. Do this well before an election so that you negate the necessity of so many provisional ballots.

Place an emphasis on criminal penalties for vote fraud, and enforce a few!

Instead of wasting taxpayer resources on a Dean apologist manual (the insipid & insulting voters pamphlet) put out a document that clearly and concisely spells out your responsibilities as a voter.

Becoming clearer yet?

Posted by: alphabet soup on October 14, 2005 07:44 AM
43. A couple of things are clear to me:

There is an assumption by too many that the majority party in this state wants meaningful reform. They want no reform whatsoever. If anything, they would like to expand fraud to enlarge their constituency. (See all mail ballots).

I believe there is intelligent design behind the events at KKE. This are not the buffoons they are made out to be. In fact, if you are a critical thinker, concluding that this entire organization is run and managed by buffoons is the only deduction you can make unless you believe it’s actually a criminal enterprise.

I agree with you soup. Meaningful election reform is a new voter roll. Voters must have valid ID. Voting more than once, non-citizens voting, felons voting etc are crimes and NORM WOULD ACTUALLY HAVE TO ENFORCE THE LAW AGAINST CRIMINALS. Isn’t it weird that what I have written is so vigorously opposed by the majority party in this State?

Posted by: Not really confused, just disgusted on October 14, 2005 08:27 AM
44. King County now says they referred the apparent double voting by Levesque to the prosecutor's office in August -- but their spokeswoman, Egan, didn't know at the time she was claiming the two birth dates indicated there were two voters.

Odd, isn't it? Logan's gang is so quick to disparage their critics, even when the criticism is accompanied by pretty clear evidence; and yet they don't even check to see what they have done before saying their critics are just being partisan.

Posted by: Micajah on October 14, 2005 10:20 AM
45. "County Elections Director Dean Logan, a principal target of the Republicans' criticism, denounced the GOP allegations as a "witch hunt" driven by partisan political considerations."

When your state is being run by a witch...there is nothing wrong with a witch hunt!

Posted by: BW on October 14, 2005 10:53 AM
46. "County Elections Director Dean Logan, a principal target of the Republicans' criticism, denounced the GOP allegations as a "witch hunt" driven by partisan political considerations."

When your state is being run by a witch...there is nothing wrong with a witch hunt!

Posted by: BW on October 14, 2005 10:53 AM
47. "County Elections Director Dean Logan, a principal target of the Republicans' criticism, denounced the GOP allegations as a "witch hunt" driven by partisan political considerations."

When your state is being run by a witch...there is nothing wrong with a witch hunt!

Posted by: BW on October 14, 2005 10:54 AM
48. "County Elections Director Dean Logan, a principal target of the Republicans' criticism, denounced the GOP allegations as a "witch hunt" driven by partisan political considerations."

When your state is being run by a witch...there is nothing wrong with a witch hunt!

Posted by: BW on October 14, 2005 10:54 AM
49. Keith Earvin, activate.

The obvious spin here is something that is so MSM. But, in keeping this headline out here, they are hoping that the majority of viewers and readers will walk away with the sound bite that this was just a Republican vote getting ploy. That may have worked pre 2004. Now that we live in the age of blogs, what I am finding is that more and more people are going back to the Internet after they read or hear the news to get clarification when there is an open argument between two parties.

When voters look for clarification, it's obvious lies like this that really sway voters to our side. Think about the Rather memos and the Swift Boat vets last year. The MSM lead with these stories against Bush, but concerned voters went to the web and learned the truth.

Keith Earvin will hopefully shed some objectivity on this, and between that and the objectivity of each individual voter, and hopefully Irons clear elucidation of these facts, there are going to be a lot of people that see Sims for what he is. A deceitful politician.

Go Irons.

Posted by: Jeff B. on October 14, 2005 11:14 AM
50. Oh, and BTW, the fact that David Goldstein is now defending this at the Horses Ass, shows that we are on the right track. For the last several months, Goldstein's strategy has been to ignore any new election discoveries as old news. Now that we are getting close to the election, the other side is a bit worried. Hence, the great appeaser and whitewasher of Seattle Democrats is called upon.

Keep digging and whining Goldstein, it will be up to the public to decide if it was really right for Dean Logan to assign so many ballots to precinct 1823 and count them, when they were obviously questionable. The more you bring this up, the more it brings this to the attention of moderate Democrats. Thanks.

Posted by: Jeff B. on October 14, 2005 11:21 AM
51. Ken Schram gets it (as it does about half of the time) with his editorial - He is spot on ! we the voting public are getting jerked around by Ron Sims and Dean Logan who have had ample opportunity to shore up the voting fraud. The grand result - neglgible change from the 2004 election. Anyone who thinks things will change if Sims is reelected is gullible, naive and doesn't need to vote. David Irons will not change everything for the better, but 70-80% beats 10%. Irons has one important quality that Sims does not: Integrity. Besides that, he will take tough stands - and has the interest of local transportation at heart, more so than his opponent - who cares mainly about Light Rail - for his own personal self-indulgence.

I am sure that Mr. Irons also has plans for immunization against the avian flu - as King Sims announced earlier today, as most large urban areas in the US do - so those who think this area is so blessed are very provincial and really just taking everything for granted.

Posted by: KS on October 14, 2005 01:02 PM
52. Keith Erwin has a new article posted online, it seems the woman double voter was referred for investigation/prosecution!

Now, if they would only get the other thousand, we might be getting somewhere!

Posted by: sgmmac on October 14, 2005 02:49 PM
53. Good point sgmac! It might be awhile(Unless Irons gets elected!)Then that could change.

Posted by: Laurie on October 17, 2005 11:54 AM
54. Ron Sims is a horrible father. He has a daughter named Monica he acts as if she doesn't even exist.

Posted by: Me on November 8, 2005 11:12 PM
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