 | My copy of the Washington State Voter Registration Database arrived by Fedex this afternoon. |
You may recall from an October entry that Sakima Salaam voted absentee under both registrations in 2004. (The voter's name on her first registration was originally "Sakina", but King County records show that it was changed to "Sakima" in June 2005, matching the second registration but not the voter's handwriting). Yeah, I know, Sam Reed said that his office "is still investigating an additional 35,000 names that a computer flagged as suspicious." Perhaps this one was considered a possible case of identical twins or something and they're still investigating.
I presented photos of Ms. Salaam's two absentee ballot envelopes to the House State Government Operations and Accountability Committee when I testified a couple of weeks ago. I presented this in support of HB 2526, which would allow citizens to challenge a voter registration on the grounds that it is a duplicate. Weirdly, Snohomish County Auditor "Sideshow Bob" Terwilliger and Katie Blinn from the Secretary of State's Office testified against the bill on the grounds that the SoS and county auditors are already removing duplicates as part of the statewide voterdatabase effort. (TVW Audio, start listening at 1:25:00). I don't expect election officials to do a perfect job. But I do expect them to provide a reasonable mechanism for citizen input to improve integrity and that's exactly what HB 2526 does and why it's needed.
I'll be going through the statewide voter database in more detail and will also post an online searchable version as soon as practical.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at February 02, 2006 03:47 PM | Email Thisover to you. Hardly had to wait at all. Posted by: mark on February 2, 2006 05:25 PM
The voter's county voter id should be included in the next release on Mar-01-2006.
Sakima Salaam probably forgot she had registered to vote. King County Elections should just have verified the second card was a duplicate.
I just looked at the WSCPA database and Bob Terwilliger is not listed.
Brian Sontag is not a WSCPA member, but at least Brian understands accounting and the value of performance audits.
A zero error database would be way too expensive to implement, but Stefan is correct Bob Terwilliger and the others should catch obvious mistakes and stop with lame execuses.
Posted by: Green Lake Mark on February 2, 2006 06:24 PMAs long as you stay honest and don't try misrepresenting the numbers, you are helping every single voter.
Gerald
Posted by: Gerald on February 2, 2006 06:38 PM"Thanks for keeping the system honest, Stefan.
As long as you stay honest and don't try misrepresenting the numbers, you are helping every single voter.
Posted by Gerald at February 2, 2006 06:38 PM"
Why would a little dink like you think you need to warn Stefan about staying honest???
That type of talk is usually a sign that you struggle with honesty yourself Gerry!
Considering the teeny weeny margins (129 votes...) where races have been won over the past few years....
The public absolutely DESERVES to know how many of those dead, duplicate and felon voters - found so far in the database, actually voted in the last several elections. We need to subpoena this information since it appears that Sam Reed and his cronies are not going to be forthcoming with the truth.. The information concerning illegal voter registration that's being uncovered with this cleanup should be reviewed by an independant party - preferably a Federal agency.
That Sam Reed believes he can just make a statement that "no" illegal voting has been found - with the discovery of so many dead and duplicate voters - is absurd!
We should not stand for that.
Posted by: Deborah on February 2, 2006 07:18 PMI knew someone would try to figure out a way to turn my compliment into something bad. The fact that I'm liberal bothers you so much you look for things to insult me about.
Chill. I'm just here to have a political discussion. And in this case, I am saying I respect Stefan for what he does. I'm sick of people who talk all day long and don't do anything to help. Probably people like you.
Gerald
Posted by: Gerald on February 2, 2006 07:52 PMWhen you said "As long as you stay honest and don't try misrepresenting the numbers, you are helping every single voter.
Posted by Gerald at February 2, 2006 06:38 PM"
Your implication is that Stefan would for some reason even consider being less than honest. Perhaps you are merely a Liberal Gerry....who knows. But here in Washington, you in are in a Den of Marxists, Leftists and Socialists. They will continue to suck on your young, tender, easily influenced brain until you end up in the gutter with them. Socialism never works Gerry....even though it may appeal to your sensitive, fragile psychy. Keep challenging and questioning your LEFTIST friends....but you don't need to make smarmy little innuendo's about Stefan's honesty.
Gerald made his statement in good faith, and you just don't seem to want to accept his compliment as it was. Gerald is correct--Stefan is doing good with this work, as long as he doesn't do what so many people on BOTH political sides do with the numbers.
I don't think he will, but I can't assume that he won't. I would hope that you and Gerald and many others commenters here can help spot the times when this happens. Posted by: pseudotsuga on February 2, 2006 10:49 PM
Remember the old saying, "If you are not a liberal when you are young, you have no heart, and if ....".
I think Gerald is also saying what a lot of closet Ds are thinking, too. They want the voters rolls to be cleaned up, but can't because the leadership is win at all costs.
Posted by: swatter on February 3, 2006 07:28 AMDo not make the mistake of trying to pander Gerald into the light. His mission is one of putting on a reasonable facade here....but his LEFTIST alliances run deep.
Young PINHEADS like Gerald need an adult to b*itch slap them into the real world....not coddle them. Posted by: Mr. Cynical on February 3, 2006 12:53 PM