Sims' re-election should not be taken as a mandate for his handling of the Elections scandal, as even the Seattle Times editorial page admits in a rare moment of common-sense
Step one, as he and everyone else knows, is restoring confidence in the elections office.The way to restore confidence is not to give the people responsible for ongoing fraud, illegalities, incompetence and cover-ups infinitely more time to keep making excuses while degrading the integrity of the elections system.
The time has come to take responsibility for elections away from Ron Sims. Creating a separately elected position of Auditor, as exists in every othe county in the state, will not guarantee perfection. But it will ensure that Elections is directly accountable to voters and that an Executive whom many voters might like for a broad range of other reasons doesn't get away with fouling the elections process.
Now is the time to gear up for I-23: The Honest Elections Project, to fire Dean Logan and make the King County Elections Auditor a separately elected official.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at November 09, 2005 10:37 AM | Email ThisThis makes Tammany Hall look like a unch of girl scouts.
Posted by: pbj on November 9, 2005 11:44 AMThat means for 54% of the of 30% of registered voters who bothered to vote that the socalist agenda of land grabs, and corruption is just peachy.
Only 16% of registered voters voted for Sims. If you take in account on average only about 60% of eliligible voters register.
9% of all possible voters voted for Sims.
Posted by: JCM on November 9, 2005 12:09 PMI, for one, almost stayed home because I honestly could not see the point in voting when the system has no intention of ever being cleaned up.
I would bet that the overall turnout was pretty low, thus letting the more motivated group (i.e., the socialists) to have the larger percentage of voters.
I voted. I did not really believe that my vote would count. OR to be more accurate, I did not really know if my vote WOULD count.
Who's dumber? The folks who stayed home or ones like me that voted knowing that their votes were not guaranteed to count anyway?
Not sure I'll bother next time. Doesn't seem to be any point when blatant violations are ignored and the justice(?) system chooses to ignore the facts presented to them.
Ironically, watch how fast the powers that be will PROSECUTE the violators of the new smoking ordinance. (Or will Judge Bridges just tell the people to solve THAT problem too?)
Posted by: Elmo on November 9, 2005 12:15 PMNow we are stuck with Sims and queen Gov. Both just got a message from the voters that:
1 - manipulate the elections all you want there are no consequences.
2 - tax to your heart's content, we do not care.
The next bill for getting beyond the planning for all these street projects will be interesting (and far too little)
Posted by: fred on November 9, 2005 12:22 PMI think they can only use fraud effectively on close issues. Your vote still counts on issues where the vote isn't close.
The real problem is a society where a large number of those who vote are uninformed. Voting blindly based on party affiliation is bad for society. Voting without being aware of information like that which has been provided here on SP is a problem. Voting where your only source of information is the mainstream media (e.g. Seattle PI, Seattle Times) is a problem. What can happen is that we make choices based on bad or limited information, so we make the wrong choices. All efforts to increase voter participation need to also stress that voters become informed of the issues and the people before they vote. I will not vote in a particular race if I haven't had the time to study the candidates. It's not the quantity of votes that count, it's the quality. All citizens should vote, but also, all should vote responsiblity and not just try to express an opinion with their vote. A vote should be a well informed choice.
Posted by: PW on November 9, 2005 12:30 PMI posted over this thread leadership and conservativism win.
How many people don't register and don't vote because of general disgust with the whole system.
Of all eligible voters Irons got 8%. Irons was not a great canididate, think we could have increased the turnout with a good candidate?
If we get the leadership, and great candidates no reason why we can't win.
Posted by: JCM on November 9, 2005 12:32 PMHow many Reps volunteered to do phones, knock on doors, do whatever it takes to get David Irons elected? Not nearly enough.
With a low turnout like this, it would have been EASIER, IMHO, to have gotten Irons elected. I haven't talked to Chris Vance lately, but I would bet dollars to donuts there was nowhere near enough help. Heck, there was even a plea sent to folks who are registered at gop.com to get involved in GOTV...sent late last week if I recall. The GOP is way ahead in GOTV, including a great gold mine of data...but it takes people - volunteers - to make it all work. Otherwise it's just a wonderful compilation of data.
I hear a lot of blather, but don't see a whole lot of doing. Yes, I saw the folks out on the overpasses in the cold and the rain. I thank them for what they did. But how many others helped? Sadly, not nearly enough.
You see, all politics ARE local. While I thank God every day that Dubya is in the WH, I sure wish we had some good God-fearing reps serving us at the local levels. I know many of you wish that too. But what are we doing to make it happen?
We can all get on here and blather and lather and pi$$ and moan, but until we are all willing to do the grunt work, to Get Off Our Collective Asses and Get Out The Vote, it's like peeing against the wind.
Posted by: SnoCo Voter on November 9, 2005 12:47 PMThis is truly the most pernicious and destructive effect of vote fraud. In the case of close elections, when both sides are energized on the issues, are strongly behind their candidates, and vigorously engaged in the democratic process, the debilitating effect of fraud robs the system of its overall vitality and health. When fraud makes losers out of winners and winners out of losers, you get exactly the effect that poster Elmo notes, and, to some extent, embodies. Disillusionment, distrust, lack of faith in the system, an unwillinness to further engage in what is perceived to be an unfair process, marginalization, disaffection. Not that I blame Elmo (I am in fact very much in tune with his feelings in this regard) or anyone else who feels likewise, because they are not to blame, the perpetrators of fraud are the real criminals. But, as for the result, in the end, it destroys the system in terms of the one man, one vote concept. By requiring one candidate, or party, to attain what is in effect a supermajority, not simply a majority, to win an election, the system is rigged from the start.
Posted by: Interested Observer on November 9, 2005 12:53 PMI find it pretty sorry that what Sims & Co did wasn't enough for change. If there were some leadership and some decent masochistic person that is willing to be a candidate, all the better. Obviously corruption, blatant disregard for election law, being loose with the truth isn't enough to get people to care.
Posted by: fred on November 9, 2005 12:55 PMThanks for all of your civic work. It does make a difference when people stand up for what they believe in. Please keep up the fight, your voice has been heard and it will continue to be heard.
It is disgusting to have Washington State Laws continuously bent, turned, and corrupted by local officials. The state officials are even worse and those that arn't are powerless to do anything about it.
I am tired of rhetical spin from officials whose behavior is less than stellar and frequently dips into the criminal arena.
I received a email from the Secretary of State's office last night at 10:17pm assuring me that all is well and that there really isn't election fraud, it's only my perception.
Ms Berger then told me that the Secretary of State's office with Secretary Reed made significant changes to fix the problems, with the most notable being the state's database of voters, which she claims will prevent felons and double voting. Interesting that he takes credit for a federal law that he is required to follow. I haven't answered it yet, but I will be sure to tell her that Sam Reed is ineffective and I am one Republican who will never vote for him again. As a matter of fact, I plan on actively campaigning against him. I also plan on asking exactly how the state database is going to stop unregistered voters from voting!
You have proven without any doubt that the majority of problems in King County Elections were directly caused by Logan.
Posted by: sgmmac on November 9, 2005 01:22 PM
Look who runs elections in Seattle.
I say to the libs what they always say to us:
Prove that there wasn't any fraud and manipulation in this election on the part of KC Elections.
Also: Even in "victory" the moonbats are vulgar and without manners. They have no class.
It's sad.
Posted by: Smoke on November 9, 2005 03:12 PMDid I miss something?
The Sec. of State election website shows that King County still has 200,000 ballots to count. King County has only counted a little over half of the ballots recieved...
Once those ballots are counted many things could change...but one thing is for certain - more than 30% of the registered voters of King County voted...
I just hate it when people start conceding and others claim victory when there are so many ballots left to count! There are 200,000 voters who are being disenfranchised because the media wants to be the first to report victories and defeat....
It is great to have you doin what you are doin!
Posted by: GS on November 9, 2005 09:04 PMHe knowingly violates the law, and encourages the same. He ignores significant flaws in the system. He encourages people to vote illegally, and discourages people from trying to challenge those who do so.
I am in favor of doing whatever it takes to remove him.