Check out the comments on yesterday's post ""Security and Economics": Vote-by-mail is a double loser" Towards the bottom is a comment by "Anne":
First of all, if you visit the Oregon Secretary of State's office link (http://www.sos.state.or.us/executive/policy-initiatives/vbm/execvbm.htm) then you'll see further links to independent research on Vote By Mail and additional information from a number of sources. The government is not some big boogeyman trying to get you, the government is you, and exists to provide ideas and information and assistance. ... Over 70% of Washington voters have been voting this way for years without issue1.Anne also posted a couple of comments on the subsequent entry, repeating the figure of "over 70% of Washington voters".
Anne didn't identify herself as such, but as it turns out, she is Anne Martens, spokeswoman to Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury and a Democrat blogger and advocate for mail-only voting. She posted her comments here from an Oregon state IP address, but identified herself only by first name and private email address. I called her at the office and she confirmed that she posted the comments. I explained that I thought it would have been ethical under the circumstances for her to identify herself by full name and title, given that she was, you know, touting her employer from an office computer during business hours. She got all defensive and claimed it was on her lunch break [The comments were posted at 8:41AM and 9:57AM]. in between the time I got off the phone with her and finished this entry, she posted yet another comment here, disparaging a critic of mail voting and without fully identifying herself.
Sheesh.
1Actually, less than 70% voted by mail in November 2004 and there were a lot of issues.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at May 11, 2006 03:11 PM | Email ThisGood find Stefan!
Posted by: alphabet soup on May 11, 2006 03:59 PMHere Ms. Martens also hides her vested interest in mail-in voting, by posing as just good ol' Anne from down the block. Misleading? Yup. Unethical? Correcto. Maybe she can join Mr. Hiltzik in a latte or two at the Skulker's Cafe, while they look for honest employment.
Posted by: Hank Bradley on May 11, 2006 04:16 PMFor instance, she might learn that there were charges -- serious charges -- that Muslim women in Britain were intimidated into giving up their mail ballots in recent elections. A feminist, and I would guess she thinks of herself as one, might be disturbed by that. (And decent person should be disturbed by it.)
Posted by: Jim Miller on May 11, 2006 05:24 PM
There is nothing more important than accurately determining the winner of an election by counting the legally cast ballots of legally registered voters. Look at the billions blown that otherwise wouldn't have if the winner of the 2004 governor's race had been inaugurated?
Everything Deanron is doing in King County is aligned with the Democrat Party's strategy to increase, not decrease, opportunities for fraud and the counting of illegally cast ballots.
It is absolutely insane that we're watching the Democrats reduce our elections to canvassing boards and Elections bureaucrats deciding how ballots should be counted and how many times a single illegal voter will be allowed to vote, or invalid ballot counted.
Posted by: MJC on May 11, 2006 05:57 PMHow can vote by mail not avoid hiding existing corruption which was more visible during voting at the polling place ? If voting were cleaned up beyond a reasonable doubt, (which King County is FAR AWAY from with the two headed KLOWN; Deanron with his fingerprints on it) vote by mail might be a viable alternative. Watch the Governor's race in Oregon carefully in November - Even though the current Gov. has a Bush-like approval rating - this will test whether or not it is a clean election and if the incumbent wins, it should be concluded that it is ripe with corruption.
Posted by: KS on May 11, 2006 07:05 PMI'm sure Deanron Logan called her up and asked if she'd be willing to make a few comments on his behalf and in support of all-mail voting.
The Oregon progressives and socialists have come to Deanron's defense many times.
Posted by: Jeff B. on May 11, 2006 08:41 PMYou beat me to it. I was going to say "I bet Deanron put her up to it".
Posted by: Janet on May 11, 2006 10:50 PMObviously, prosecutors and courts have shown they aren’t interested in judging vote fraud on the merits, so a boycott is just about the only way they could be shamed into doing their jobs.
Posted by: Nick on May 12, 2006 06:36 AMI know the last year I lived in PDX my ballot was rejected for "signiture not matching" and never once was I contacted to prove that it really was me.
I remember that year there were a large (seems like 25 to 50 thousand) similar rejected ballots. I only found out months later when I checked the status of my vote by chance. Of course I voted a full R ballot in Blue Multnomah co.
Posted by: dave on May 12, 2006 07:00 AMThe goverment is a BIG BOOGEYMAN.....Read this entry http://www.soundpolitics.com/archives/006170.html
This is goverment gone BAD, and it effects ALL the residents of this state, just not the county it represents..... When you move to Washington, and watch your vote get cancelled out because of the stupidity in KC Elections, then you have a voice on this issue. Until then.....Stay put in Oregon, and defeat the very purpose you say you are fighting for.....FAIR-HONEST-TRUE ELECTIONS.
Now how did your post contribute to this thread?
I am glad I don't live in oregon. Ms Anne is a state employee, and tax dollars pay her wages. When you post a comment on a public blog on company time, you are spending company money, and your comment is public. That is the risk, or should I say, the personal responsibilty that Ms Anne chose to take.
Don't blame the messenger, consider the source....
Posted by: Chris on May 12, 2006 10:56 AM(Problem solved!)
Posted by: alphabet soup on May 12, 2006 11:12 AMOh, Popoff, you said at 10:30 this morning it was your last visit. Still visiting at 11:01? :-P
Posted by: Zero on May 12, 2006 12:23 PMStill your point (in regards to this thread)?
Ms Anne shouldn't be posting at WORK. Her obvious knowlegde and persistance to all mail voting worked agaisnt her. If she had stated up front where she worked, and was just presenting information to the forum, it would have been a different story all together.
You see, I enjoy reading posts from people who actually "work" in the subject post field. They have first hand knowlegde that only the rest of us can speculate. If she had identified herself as someone working in this particular field, her comments would have been taken more seriously, and not that of a "troll".
You see it was the "source". She didn't have to hide to be heard. Stefan encourages people in the "field" of work to respond, not hide.
Stefan just let us know what Ms. Anne was doing between 8 & 5 that day, since she CHOSE to USE her PUBLIC PAYING JOB to post her Personal Opinion.
Posted by: Chris on May 12, 2006 01:13 PMWouldn't you want postings from individuals who have been involved for more than a decade in voting by mail?
She should have identified herself as working for the OR Secretary of State. But the rest of the comments here are silly.
Nothing like facts to get in the way, eh?
I'm outta here, folks. You don't want a clear evaluation of voting by mail. You're on a witchhunt.
have fun.
Posted by: paul on May 12, 2006 02:30 PMI lived in Oregon when they were forcing that garbage known as vote-by-mail down there. It is a boon for corruption and Mertens knows it.
Vote-by-mail is good for an extra 2% for the Democrats come election time. So it is just another hurdle that conservatives will have to jump over in Washington.
There is also a huge problem going on in the Oregon primaries right now. Many people have already voted and now there is a bunch of new campaign ads hitting some of the candidates. There are voters calling the other campaigns asking if they can take their vote back?!
Ouch... Vote's in the mail.
Posted by: Coyote on May 12, 2006 04:02 PMI also didn't try to make up anybody's mind for them, I just pointed you towards resources and information that the Oregon Secretary of State's office has that might be helpful in making up your own mind.
So, if anybody would like real facts and information about how Vote By Mail works in Oregon, I invite you to contact the Oregon Secretary of State's office.
Cheers.
Posted by: Anne on May 12, 2006 04:54 PMI didn't find you easily. It was only after Paul Gronke mentioned blueoregon.com and I put two-and-two together with your Oregon state IP address and looked you up in the state directory. Other readers do not see your IP address and would not have made the connection as easily.
You're more than welcome to keep posting here, Anne, and I hope you will. All I ask is that you identify yourself by name and professional affiliation. You are employed to represent a government official who has staked his reputation on vote-by-mail and it is only fair that you disclose your interest in this issue when you comment on it.
Posted by: Stefan Sharkansky on May 12, 2006 05:04 PMAs to identification, I think we've beat that horse now, and just so we're clear, it is part of my official job to provide facts and information about vote by mail, but I personally am also allowed to have opinions and my personal opinion is that vote by mail is better than any other system out there. So there you go.
Posted by: Anne on May 12, 2006 05:48 PMCheers in a liberally drinking sort of way!
Posted by: Smokie on May 12, 2006 06:23 PMIf you don't wish to be diagnosed for ill symptoms, don't $hit where you eat.
Posted by: Amused by liberals on May 12, 2006 09:52 PM