This might be some of what the Secretary of State's Office didn't want me to discover in the statewide database before they could put their own spin on it: "11,500 Dead Washingtonians Still Registered To Vote"
The sweep this month also found 36,000 voters who appear to be registered in two counties.It sound like they're making progress on cleaning up the voter rolls. And that's good. Will they investigate further to determine how many of these dead people voted from the grave and how many of the multiply registered voters have voted more than once? Please, no wagering.
UPDATE: The source for the numbers of 11,500 deceased and 36,000 duplicates is the KOMO article that I linked above. The Secretary of State's website has a press release today reporting
10,000 potential duplicate registrations for active voters and 7,000 for inactive voters.and
nearly 2,000 deceased voters.No explanation yet for the discrepancy with the KOMO report.
UPDATE 2: Thanks the reader who suggested this related article in the Everett Herald.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at January 26, 2006 02:37 PM | Email This
Gerald
Posted by: Gerald on January 26, 2006 02:50 PMCan I play??
That'd be "What is MANY more than the margin of victory, Alex!!"
:~)
Posted by: Brian C on January 26, 2006 03:05 PMWith 3.5 million total registered voters in the state, that means the current database is approximately 98.6% accurate - a figure that any bank would be proud of.
Posted by: Gary on January 26, 2006 03:08 PMBut, she voted for Rossi. Don't tell the Democrats or they will demand a recount.
Posted by: swatter on January 26, 2006 03:18 PM1) we don't know yet where these dead and doubly registered voters are registered and which auditors have the sloppiest rolls.
2) I don't who is making the argument that sloppy voter rolls are exclusively a King County or Democrat problem. I've focused most of my attention on King County because that's where I live. But I'm also happy to publicize election problems in other counties without regards to partisanship, and for that matter in the (Republican) Secretary of State's office.
Posted by: Stefan Sharkansky on January 26, 2006 03:18 PMWhat is the penalty for a dead voter voting illegally?
Posted by: Jeffro on January 26, 2006 03:19 PMThat caught KC with their pants down. But they were quick to recover by first NOT certifying the results as other counties had. Then, they scoured everywhere for those votes they may have idly just left hanging around rather than counting. The first round-up of ignored votes wasn't enough: they had to find more. They did, and how exactly they did that is still a "mystery" today.
The 2004 election was so tainted by the inept and lazy, unprofessional behvior of KC elections people that an entire new election for governor should have been called. There's a chance the wrong person is sitting down in the governor's mansion in Olympia. The really only true way to ascertain who won the election is to have a re-vote.
Posted by: Libertarian on January 26, 2006 03:24 PM1.1?
1.5?
2?
5?
SHE WAS CREMATED AND WE GOT HER A NEW DOMICILE AT THE LOCAL U.P.S. STORE...IT IS ONLY $25.00 A YEAR, A.A.R.P.CAN STILL ASK FOR DONATIONS, WE CAN SEE HER 24/7/365 AND SHE CAN STILL VOTE.
THE COST OF A GRAVE SITE AND COFFIN WERE OVER $10,000... SO @ $25.00 PER YEAR IT WOULD TAKE 400 YEARS TO BRAKE EVEN...SUCH A GOOD DEAL!!!
Posted by: TACOMA PHLASH on January 26, 2006 04:27 PMA shrewd person could start a very profitable cottage industry here. And obviously the dems don't care...
Hmmm!
Posted by: alphabet soup on January 26, 2006 04:36 PMThe articles cited mentioned voters should step up to help out. Is the state going to hire mediums to help us contact the dear departed to verify that they are really truly truly dead? Should the deceased knock once if they are still voting and twice if they have made the permanent move?
Posted by: Burdabee on January 26, 2006 06:41 PMThe findings are a step in the right direction. However, who knows if these wrongs will be righted ? unless Stefan and other watchdogs keep birddogging the SoS office to make the changes. How or should I say, will this affect King County's voter rolls ? Good luck with that part, as the inmates are in charge. Also keep in mind how big of fuss had to be made for this to happen - that's alright, keeping the heat on will eventually get results.
Posted by: KS on January 26, 2006 08:04 PMThese numbers are really unbeliveable considering all of the angst about the dead, the double voters and the felons.
I do hope that we will be getting a county breakdown of these problem registrations.
It will be interesting to find out if any of the 5000 or so voters registered at business addresses in Seattle are on the list.
Posted by: sgmmac on January 26, 2006 08:06 PMGod what nighmare. DOOOOOO something.
Crises for sure.
Posted by: Lana Smith from Kirkland on January 26, 2006 08:10 PMmost of the 36k arent even the same people. Now granted there are alot of dead people on the rolls. Here is the chance to take a look at the ones that are correct and see how many did vote!
Maybe if people would actually report their relatives death to election offices they wouldnt just float around on voter rolls.
Dont just jump on some bandwagon - do your reserach like some others here do before saying this is the new evidence of whatever.\
whatever
Posted by: Thomas on January 26, 2006 08:58 PMHuh??
Thomas? Have you heard of Martin Ringhoefer's history of trying to get his deceased parents off of the King County voter rolls? For years and years?
"Yeah, but this dead-guys list was'nt matched with middle names or socials or stuff that was blatently obvious with both lists."
"most of the 36k arent even the same people. Now granted there are alot of dead people on the rolls. Here is the chance to take a look at the ones that are correct and see how many did vote!"
Thomas...
You are in a HUGE state of denial....
Of course these 36,000 are the same people! And yes - the dead people listed are dead....and still registered to vote. They didn't just match up names....they use social security numbers, addresses, etc...
I'm thinking these numbers are far short of actual. They may represent King County alone..
You know, there never seemed to be a problem with county staff purging dead people off the voter rolls until Ron Sims took over in King County! In fact - most of todays election problems, errors, fraud and corruption began when Ron Sims took office! It increased dramatically when Dean Logan was hired by Sims.....
Now it makes perfect sense!
Posted by: GS on January 26, 2006 10:21 PMHow many illegal immigrants vote? We will never know.
Long live the Queen
Posted by: Snuffy on January 27, 2006 09:37 AM(1) Voters move around the state and do not notify their old county that they have moved. They simply register like a new voter in their new county. The new Voter Registration Database solves this problem. Voter Registrations are now transferable like your car title.
(2)Women voters who get married do not notify their county election official of their name change, but fill out a new form. Most remember to get their driver's license changed, but do not think about their voting registration. The new system does not yet deal with this problem, but we hope to be able to track maiden name changes in the future.
A note about the numbers. The initial dupe and death check turns up raw numbers. There are a lot of Robert Smith's or Mary Smith's born on the same day -- even living in the same city. An elections official must go though the dupes and compare the signatures. Many raw dupes turn out to NOT be dupes. Notations are added to the records so they do not turn up in future checks once we are certain they are two different people.
The dupes and deaths being turned up are from the initial load of the old databases that resided in the 39 counties. Now, with the VRDB centralized at the state-level, with systematic integrity checks, we expect smaller numbers in subsequent months.
The felon check will occur in March. The dupe and death checks will occur monthly. We will produce a statistical report of what we find each month in the subsequent month. A new version CD-ROM od the VRDB will be availabe after each check.
The VRDB is dynamic and in real-time so that means the NUMBERS ARE CONSTANTLY CHANGING as election officials go through reports and clear the records that turn up. By issuing statistical report AFTER all of the checking is done, everyone should have access to reliable numbers.
Yes, we will try to see if any dupes or the dead voted. We expect very small numbers, if any. The Governor's election contest ferretted out much of these and those persons' records have been cleaned-up since then.
Hope this helps...
Steve Excell
Assistant Secretary of State
I responded last week to your email and am hopeful you can provide an update.
The numbers in the KOMO story and the SOS press release are different b/c they were pulled from the database on different dates.
The database flags computerized matches but human beings must then examine each match to determine if it is in fact a duplicate registration, a case involving a convicted felon or someone who is deceased. As election administrators examine these computerized matches each day, the numbers will continue to change. Once they finish, we will issue a complete list of registered voters and hope to do so next month. Even that list will not be perfect.
Most duplicate registrations exist b/c people move and forget to cancel their old registrations. They marry and forget to notify the County Auditor. Felony convictions will continue and the database will likely always hold names of the deceased.
Thank you for the opportunity to respond. This is an important issue.
Posted by: Trova Heffernan on January 28, 2006 07:09 PM