Ron Sims has announced that he'll be making an announcement:
King County Executive Ron Sims will be joined by King County council members Julia Patterson and Bob Ferguson as he makes a major announcement about King County elections.What could this be about? The suspense is killing me. If I were allowed one guess, I would guess that ---10 a.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 20th
32nd floor, Columbia Center
5th and Columbia
Seattle
King County is set to follow most of Washington's other counties off the cliff and embrace mandatory all-mail voting. My second guess would note that Dean Logan is not mentioned in the announcement as he was in the announcement for the "accuracy any bank would envy" press conference, which might signal that Logan has resigned. But your guesses are as good as mine. Please submit your best guess in the comments. The first person who guesses correctly before the answer is public will get some sort of a prize. Please, no wagering.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at December 19, 2005 08:59 PM | Email ThisI predict the formation of a citizens advisory panel to oversee Elections. Advisory only! No veto power or real influence! Ultimately made up of hand-picked friends of Ron who will get nice little salaries for their participation and who will continue the facade that Democrats support honest elections. In other words; just more symbolism over substance and another cynical attempt to gain a false trust from the majority of the electorate.
Posted by: Mike on December 19, 2005 10:06 PMRon Sims & Co. will announce the purchase of a new, "consolidated election facility." However, the "consolidated" facility will not house poll operations, because King County will impose vote-by-mail elections on its citizens in 2007 or 2009.
That's my best guess. My Christmas wish is that they propose an elected auditor charter amendment for King County.
Posted by: Tim B. on December 19, 2005 10:28 PMHe will also announce a special holiday season sale on votes of $9.99 per vote, payable to Ron Sims, Inc., Cayman Islands.
Posted by: BananaLand on December 19, 2005 10:29 PMDean Logan saved both Christine Gregoire's ass but also was there to assure Ron Sims would get whatever he wants whenever he wants. He will not be replaced.
Posted by: GS on December 19, 2005 10:54 PM(1) A new consolodated election center (after all The County Council has been stuffing the budget with pork; so it is now Ron's turn to add a project and it will somehow benefit the two Council members in some form).
(2) To meet public demand, future ballots will be all mail balloting to be more accurate and save money as the public demands.
(3) Dean Logan because of the personal attacks against him, has decided to step down for the good of the County and the Election process. In the interim, he will be given a fat consulting contract or has been hired by some "national" hack organization to do election work.
(4) A national search has been started to find a replacement for Dean Logan, so the work he started can be continuted, but with greater public support.
(5)This is all cover for a federal inquiry will be announced on voting irregularities in King County either later this week or next week.
Posted by: Bob on December 19, 2005 11:21 PMOnly a fool would think Sims will actually do something intelligent. That would require a full brain, not just the stem.
Posted by: Burdabee on December 20, 2005 12:35 AMBecause some of them can be hacked to give false results.
Posted by: David Cohen on December 20, 2005 02:33 AM...that's what its ...
(sorry. couldn't resist)
Posted by: FT on December 20, 2005 03:55 AMThis will be a front page story at the Seattle Times, and the PI will print an editorial stating any elections supervisor that prefers vanilla couldn't possible be doing a bad job.
Posted by: Marc on December 20, 2005 04:01 AMThey won't say that about Dean L. Everyone knows that those who love 'vanilla' are a bunch of narrow-minded, Christian, Republican
'flavor-phobes' who are unwilling to step in and experience the joy of diversity of the 30 other ice cream flavors at Baskin-Robbins.
He will also offer invitations to his coronation, which will be hosted by Microsoft's Allen&Gates at their next Election Purchasing Conference. (bring lots of $$$$$)
Ronidi will use his new powers to proclaim that his empire will be re-named King Ronidi County.
A secondary proclaimation will abolish the King County Elections Department, as trivial matters such as elections will no longer be necessary.
He will further appease Seattle residents by commisioning twin statues of Marks and Lenin to adorn the entrance to his new palace, designed by Baghdad Bob.
As a peace offering to rural, east-county serfs, Ron will offer a delicious cake made from Marie Antoinette's favourite recipe. After eating, the serfs will be rounded up and drafted into service in King Ronidi's Army. Serf-owned land will be confiscated for bike trails and squirrel habitat.
Ferguson and Patterson will be shown to the guillotine.
Dean Logan will be retained as Court Jester.
Posted by: Saltherring on December 20, 2005 05:49 AM
saves money
less hassles
"See? This is new!"
That the secret information someone has been sending to the feds has finally gotten McKay off vacation and him and Meleng along with Sonntag’s new auditing powers are about to unfairly malign an institution in this state that every bank does envy!!!
Dean Logan is rumored to take over at WaMu but only to keep track of the tp needed in the bathrooms company's headquarters.
Also the new election facility will have special print on demand services for “special ballots”, that the new all vote by mail system will carefully sort the ballots by precinct before verification of signature so that, conveniently, thousands of those white, pinhead, zealot precinct ballots will certainly have thousands of non-matching signatures just to be fair.
Also they have finally read the help menu in excel and are going to make sure that the mail ballot audit report continues to not report the number of ballots received and reconcile that with the number counted and not counted but will now use bold and italic fonts so that distracts you from the obvious!
Or maybe Ron will announce the creating of the Huey Long Award given to the KCE employee that most exemplifies the values of getting the vote “just right”.
The only thing the Republicans have called for is compliance with existing election law:
1) Voters must be citizens of the United States;
2) Voters must timely register with a legitimate residential address, or alternate location as provided by law for specific situations;
3) Only legally registered voters may cast votes;
4) A voter may cast only one ballot in each election;
5) Ballots must be completed correctly in order to be counted, or replaced with a new ballot if spoiled.
Which of the above requirements is designed to "selectively lower the participation rate" for any specific group? These requirements exist to ensure that elections are conducted fairly and objectively; attempts to weaken or circumvent these rules simply open the process to abuse and fraud.
You have to renew a driver's license every 5 years. If you vote regularly and don't move, you don't have to renew your voter registration at all. So why is it considered a "hardship" to provide evidence of your citizenship when you register, and of your identity when you cast your vote? Unlike the Iragis who voted this past week, we don't have to worry about being shot at, blown up, or kidnapped and beheaded just because we have blue ink on our finger....
Posted by: Patrick on December 20, 2005 08:41 AMBut was the election an improvement?
Posted by: sgmmac on December 20, 2005 08:49 AM- All mail voting in the future
- Carolyn Edmonds as the new Director of Elections (after all the heat he got for making up another job for her...)....
Posted by: John on December 20, 2005 08:49 AMYou got a slander charge that will stand up in court, file your suit. Short of that, shut the hell up.
Posted by: TB on December 20, 2005 09:05 AMSEATTLE - King County Executive Ron Sims has proposed an all-mail-in voting system for Washington's largest county.
Sims called a news conference Tuesday in Seattle to say Elections Director Dean Logan is working on options for the 1.2 million voters to cast their ballots by mail.
Fifty-five percent of King County voters already cast ballots as permanent absentee voters. Sims' spokeswoman Carolyn Duncan says more than 70 percent of voters use absentee ballots in any election.
She says there would be five polling places in the county for voters who like to cast ballots in person.
Most counties in Washington already conduct their elections by an all-mail-in vote.
-- I was taught that elected officials and entities cannot be Slandered or libeled-- they are considered "public persons". If they could charge Slander, then I would be first in line to sue those who were bashing Dino, GW, et al...
Posted by: We don't need a King (county) on December 20, 2005 10:41 AMI will now make a prediction. The Washington State Republican Party has now put itself into a perminent minority position by its incompetence in the 2005 race.
The battle is now all but lost.
Posted by: jaybo on December 20, 2005 10:48 AM11 million Iraqi’s went to the polls to vote.
They had to walk as cars were not permitted Election Day.
These people risked their lives to vote.
You KLOWNS complain about the Iraqi Election????
Do you really believe that anyone associated with KC Elections would voluntarily appear in a court of law to defend their pathetic record?
Posted by: ewaggin on December 20, 2005 11:37 AMThat's right in-line with its title as most corrupt elections system in the country. How many counties can boast they handed the loser in a governor's race the victory?
Imagine what they can do retouching 100,000 ballots per election instead of only 50,000?
The foxes guarding the henhouse.
Posted by: Mike on December 20, 2005 12:02 PMTG: A "poll tax" is exactly what I called it when I received my first Benton County all-mail election packet this past fall - and found I had to provide a stamp for the return envelope! At the same time, the local Tri-City Herald editorial page was praising the all-mail balloting, claiming that "you don't even have to put a stamp on the envelope." Clueless!
Posted by: Patrick on December 20, 2005 12:55 PMBecause some of them can be hacked to give false results." You're thinking of computer voting, like the machines made by Diebold. I was referring to what is considered by many to be the most reliable, if low tech, voting mechanism. Basically voters have a ballot with candidates, or measures, next to a bubble the voter fills in the bubble of their preferred candidate, then the votes can be tallied with an optical scanning machine, or, failing that, by, oh no!, people counting them. It's a lot cheaper than the computer voting systems and it leaves a voter verified paper trail.
Alan,
I can tell you mean well, but I don't think you've been following this whole story from the beginning. Had you been, you would not believe that 1) "Fair and honest elections are not a partisan issue" and 2) that there is any hope of persuading those who benefit from vote fraud to get rid of it.
Republicans are far from perfectin many ways, but if you want an agenda for fair and honest elections, they're almost there. On the other side, you have Sam Hunt and his company of clowns who give just enough to say that they did something, and then dig in their heels against real transparency and accountability. Don't say it ain't so, because their votes are on record.
An example for you: Back when this country was founded, if memory serves, women had the vote in several of the states. Now, fast forward to 1920, when the 19th Amendment gave women the vote. Why was an amendment necessary? Because NO women STILL had the vote. What happened? I don't remember many details, but within a few years after the constitution was adopted, one party or the other in each of the states, while in the majority, decided that their majority would be more secure if women couldn't vote, and they made it so. Half of all eligible voters were disenfranchised because of raw lust for power on the part of the majority party. What makes you think that human nature has improved in the past 200 years?
Now, as to the fundamental theory of political moderation. If Democrats proposed a 500% property tax increase, and Republicans proposed a 400% increase, would you assume that the "correct" answer was around 450%? This, along with the incurable desire to please everyone, is the fallacy of moderates. It is simply not axiomatic that the correct answer must lie between two staked positions. Sometimes, one side is simply right, and the other is simply wrong. How many Jews should Hitler have murdered? Six million? None? Or the moderates' answer of three million? (Correct answer: None.) Staked positions are merely that, and not intrinsically tied to any particular truth.
So basically, yes, we're right and they're wrong, and I'm not saying that because of partisan blinders.
Posted by: TB on December 20, 2005 08:31 PMI fail to see where in your post you make a similar charge against Democrats. You fault them for not "show(ing) that they are as concerned with the accuracy of the voting roles and the prevention of fraud as everyone else is." But this rather benign "criticism" hardly rises to the level of what you falsely claim the Republicans are guilty of. Which means your post is not really a balanced "criticism of both parties," as you want us to believe.
You want to focus on the "mechanics" of the voting process, when the problems to date have not been mechanical at all, but rather procedural. We in process management have a saying: "A fool with a tool is still a fool." All the technology and mechanical tools in the world cannot fix a broken electoral process.
Posted by: Patrick on December 21, 2005 11:53 AMExcellent commentary on the fundamental theory of political moderation. First rate.
Alan Scott,
”We all want a fair electoral system.” Not so. Democrats are losing favor and they will do anything to win. Their party is failing because the party has become extreme on extremist issues, and they have completely lost touch with ethics and morals. Much worse for their party is coming, and more exclusively Democrat corruption will result from their struggle to obtain power.
”Republicans should stop attempting to selectively lower the participation rates for groups who are less likely to favor them, and democrats need to show that they are as concerned with the accuracy of the voting roles and the prevention of fraud as everyone else is. ” There is no evidence that Republicans are attempting to selectively lower the participation rates for groups; only empty accusations that have been completely disproved. I don’t want democrats to show that they are as concerned with the accuracy of the voting roles and the prevention of fraud; I want them to regain their integrity so that superficial demonstrations are unnecessary.
”when we sound off in a politically homogenous echo chamber, we forget that the other side thinks the same of us, and often with good reason. ” The peculiar and singularly distinction between liberalism and conservatism is that liberals will believe anything so long as it serves their immediate purpose, and it bears no relationship with the truth. It will never be a good reason to go along with bad ideas just because some people believe fervently in them. Liberals are wrong about almost everything they currently believe. Only an idiot posits the argument that partisanship—either way—is bad because both sides are equally entitled to their opinions because opinions are not equal.
”Bush and Gregoire did in fact win, ” Bush won the election and despite the fact that the Supreme Court stepped in, they did so on a solid constitutional foundation. Further, objective evidence proves beyond serious doubt that the Court decision notwithstanding, Bush won in terms of actual votes in Florida. Gregoire lost the election except for a decision made by a court that was by any standard unfair. If the tables had been turned, Republicans would never have disputed the result. Such vote problems have occurred (see Gorton v. Cantwell) and the Republicans lamented the result but they did not fight it. This time we fought because KC Elections and the fu@king courts stole the election. Other interpretations are niggling bull$hit.
If you want a nice guy button, fine, but you are full of crap when you make these types of tone-deaf political observations in service to moral and political relativism.
Probly.
Posted by: Amused by liberals on December 22, 2005 12:31 AM