about the accuracy of King County's voter roll. Despite the vaunted statewide database matching system, and an apparent attempt on her part to fix the problem, Councilmember Patterson has been and will continue to be receiving two ballots for every election (there's no evidence she's ever attempted to vote both ballots).
In February Stefan discovered that Councilmember Julia Patterson had duplicate registrations. One was for Julie Patterson, the other for Julia L. Patterson, and the birthdate had a one-keystroke difference. All other information was identical.
The secretary of state's duplicate search never picked this up, so last month Bob Edelman called Councilmember Patterson's office to ask if the two registrations were for the same person. No one ever responded. Today, Bob reports that she apparently attempted to fix the problem, however. In the May release of the state database there are still two registrations, but one is for Julia L. Patterson, and the other is for Julie Lynn Patterson. The birthdates are now identical.
Maybe Councilmember Patterson should reconsider her sponsorship of vote-by-mail and instead focus on fixing the election system so that each voter only gets one ballot, including her.
Posted by Jonathan Bechtle at May 23, 2006 12:40 PM | Email ThisReally, you guys should be a little more forgiving.
Posted by: Jeffro on May 23, 2006 01:16 PMAccuracy rate any bank robber would envy.
Jeffro,
Right . . . forgiving . . . you bet . . .
Posted by: Amused by liberals on May 23, 2006 01:27 PMIn case you were not being sarcastic, the correction I would expect is to remove one, not correct the incorrect one.
But I am glad to know that both her registrations are accurate now, just in case an ID is required.
Posted by: Fred on May 23, 2006 02:16 PM
Amused- I hope they use KC math when it comes time for calculating my bonus, and they give a bonus to both of me.
The multiple personality thing comes from the self-esteem training.
You know . . . I feeeel that I'm a very good liberal person . . . I feeeel that I'm a very good liberal person . . . .
I feeeel that I'm some very good liberal persons . . .
A liberal friend of mine (keen on bull$hit) used to erroneously call it self-exteem training.
Somehow the bastardization always seemed inadvertantly appropriate enough that I never called attention to it.
... I got my absentee ballot from Deanron in this afternoon's mail.
...Oh... Wait a second... I don't LIVE in King County -- and haven't since August 1998. I've even voted several times here in Tacoma, since then.
Hmmmmm.... XXXX South __th Street, Tacoma, WA 98405... Yup. King County mailed me an absentee ballot to my street address inside the Tacoma City Limits.
FT
I would rank this controversy somewhere up there with Burner’s A's in law school.
Hell of a scoop there Stefan
I guess if I nominated losers like Irons and Rossi, I would make stupid arguemnts too.
Posted by: Giffy on May 23, 2006 06:46 PM~It's O.K. for Julia Patterson to accept two ballots because someone didn't feeeel that Irons and Rossi were qualified, and thus spiffy Giffy didn't "nominate" them~
Pears this here feller spiffy Giffy's been dippin' onto his own stash. Nothing new.
Liberals . . . very amusing . . .
Posted by: Amused by liberals on May 23, 2006 07:11 PMYou miss the point. There are multiple screw-ups here that illustrate a broken system:
1. “Julie” Patterson registered in 1986 with an error in her date of birth.
2. In July of last year, she changed her registration to permanent absentee, changed her name to Julia, and entered the correct date of birth. Instead of updating the registration, King County issued a new one.
3. The duplicate registration went undetected in King County.
4. The duplicate registration went undetected by the State.
5. Last month the original registration was updated for some reason to change name and correct date of birth. The duplicate went undetected again by King County.
6. The duplicate update was entered into the statewide database, again without detection. The state system was supposedly designed to detect duplicate registrations but it doesn’t seem to be working.
Ms. Patterson probably didn’t know that she had a double registration since “Julie” was registered as a poll voter. Now she will be receiving two absentee ballots until the problem is fixed.
This is not an isolated incident. The system is broken and moving to countywide vote-by-mail will ensure that more extra ballots will be floating around creating more opportunities for voting fraud.
My point was simply that Patterson likly had no idea about any of this. There is no evidence that she violated any law. She never voted twice. A
s for wrong information on her voter forms, what do you think is more likly, that patterson decided it would be fun to go by Julie and be a year younger, or that the person inputing the data screwed up.
That being said, I fully support updating the database and instituting checks for double ballots.
Posted by: Giffy on May 23, 2006 10:00 PM"Voting is NOT a right and it IS a privilege. However, there are political operatives who are trying to change that standard. You wouldn't happen to be one would you?"
No, those political operatives wrote the Bill of Rights -- oops, Priviliges, and the 19th Amendment, which protects a woman's right-- no, privilege-- to vote. (Perhaps we should re-think that last one, Elaine? Conservatives strongly opposed that Amendment, do you recall?)
Here lies the crux of SP's argument: those citizens who disagree with SP should not vote. SP will therefore do everything it can to prevent citizens who disagree with it from voting. Even by absurdly implying that voters will commit fraud in the most easily detectable way possible, or that innocent errors imply dark conspiracies.
Posted by: Paddy Mac on May 23, 2006 10:18 PMAs for voting you are right to an extent. There is no explict right to vote in the US constitution, only certian things which cannot be the basis on which voting is denied. However election is explictly stated in both the US and WA constituions as the method by which certian office are filled.
Posted by: Giffy on May 23, 2006 10:28 PMYour sexist remark is also noted.
Posted by: Elaine on May 23, 2006 10:32 PMI don't understand how recognizing that a system doesn't work reflects a lack of experience with database management. Maybe you can explain why the system can't determine that two identities with the same name, address, and date of birth might possibly be one person. Prevention of duplicate registration is not only practical, it's a requirement of federal law.
An excess of ballots can't ensure "one man, one vote" election integrity. And don't place your faith in our election officials to catch double voting or in law enforcement to prosecute offenders. I have too many examples that would prove you wrong.
Posted by: Bob Edelman on May 23, 2006 10:45 PM"Okay Paddy Mac. I knew this was coming. sigh. to have the privilege of voting, you must be eighteen, you must be a citizen, you must be a resident, you can not be a convicted felon. You must be able to provide proof, etc. We have the right to breath, we do not have the right to vote. Voting has minimum standards and just being alive is not one of them although dead people sometimes vote when they shouldn't."
Breathing, aging, and residing are in fact all natural processes. A person born in the United States and residing here past the age of eighteen has the RIGHT to vote. If she commits crimes-- like perjuriously claiming that her neighbors have falsely registered halfway across the state-- then she should lose her franchise. So long as she does not go out of her way to hurt others, she retains her RIGHT to vote.
"Your sexist remark is also noted. "
Thank you. Normally, I cannot get persons here to admit to the longstanding bigotry of the conservative movement. Conservatives of previous decades opposed extending the franchise to poor white men, men of color, and women of all colors. It seems that some conservatives still oppose having the "wrong" persons vote.
Posted by: Paddy Mac on May 24, 2006 07:02 AMThe point is that a County Councilmember was herself subject to the problems with all-mail ballots. She is also aware of the controversy.
She should have been all over this problem, but she wasn't? Why not? At the least, it was a derilection of duty to the oath of office she took when she became a councilmember.
This attitude of Democrats of "let's all get along" because Momma Government with take care of us is like finding "Fool's Gold"- looks good but isn't worth anything.
Posted by: swatter on May 24, 2006 07:22 AMI see that you and your fellow troll are in direct opposition of "opinion" regarding voting rights - with giffy holding closer to the truth than you (no surprise there). at least you're consistent (in being wrong).
As is usually the case, you make one patently false statement and then bootstrap off of it to make an equally absurd postulation. (I'd ask, but I already know that you have no shame ;'}
Then you admit your (selective?) sexism, but then lamely attempt to project your own failings onto your opponents.
Once again you fail, and look like a moron in the process. Thanks for the entertainment whack...
Posted by: alphabet soup on May 24, 2006 09:26 AMStupid and stinky, nice liberal job.
She ignored the problem. That is her blame and her problem. She did not take the problem to the source- Ron Simms and his minions.
She is not doing her job.
Posted by: swatter on May 24, 2006 10:20 AM"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance"
"A stitch in time saves nine"
'Tis better to remain silent and be thought the fool, rather than speak out and remove all doubt"
Hmmmm. One of these statements is untrue. Can you guess which one?
Posted by: alphabet soup on May 24, 2006 10:21 AMCompletely without embarrassment, Paddy crap chooses:
"No, those political operatives wrote the Bill of Rights -- oops, Priviliges, and the 19th Amendment, which protects a woman's right-- no, privilege-- to vote."
You've missed the point entirely. The point is not that Julia Patterson broke the law. The points are that:
1. King County Elections Commission messed up again;
2. Julia Patterson is in a position to demand that KCEC cleans up its act;
3. Julia Patterson does not demand greater accountability from KCEC (even though she's fully aware of KCEC's problems), and she wants to give KCEC MORE responsibility.
She's negligent in her duties to the voters of King County, but she hasn't broken any laws. It's KCEC that's broken all the laws.
Paddy Mac:
"Normally, I cannot get persons here to admit to the longstanding bigotry of the conservative movement. Conservatives of previous decades opposed extending the franchise to poor white men, men of color, and women of all colors. It seems that some conservatives still oppose having the "wrong" persons vote."
Maybe you should take a history class. Abraham Lincoln was the first Republican President, in case you weren't aware. Care to wax obscure on his bigotry?
Would you like to talk about the civil rights movement of the 1960s? It wasn't southern Republicans spraying those poor folk with fire hoses - it was southern Democrats. I'm sorry I have to break this to you since you obviously weren't aware and didn't take history class in junior high.
Perhaps you'd like to discuss the history of your prominent Democratic Senator from West Virginia, the honorable Robert (KKK) Byrd? He's a shining example of racial tolerance and the fight against bigotry, isn't he?
You give the Irish a bad name, Paddy Mac. We were disenfranchised for hundreds of years by the English. But you've forgotten what it's like to be the underpriveleged, and you've joined the liberal reigning elite in this state. Bully for you. Others of us will keep up the fight. Enjoy your quiet walk into the night.
Posted by: Larry Mac on May 24, 2006 12:04 PMCrap says, " Normally, I cannot get persons here to admit to the longstanding bigotry of the conservative movement. Conservatives of previous decades opposed extending the franchise to poor white men, men of color, and women of all colors. It seems that some conservatives still oppose having the "wrong" persons vote."
Aside from the fact that conservatives unlike liberals do in fact oppose having the "wrong" persons like criminals vote, history doesn't support anything else Paddy Crap says.
THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY HAS OPPRESSED CIVIL RIGHTS AND VOTING RIGHTS THROUGHOUT AMERICAN HISTORY
AMONG A UNIVERSE OF EVIDENCE OF THIS FACT ARE THAT the women’s suffrage movement began as part of the abolitionist movement by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott in direct association with and under the direct support of the Republican Party. The 1869 National Women Suffrage party formed by Stanton and Susan B. Anthony ultimately became the National American Women Suffrage Association that was endorsed by Republican President Theodore Roosevelt’s Bull Moose Progressives. By 1896, Republican dominated states including Wyoming Colorado, Utah and Idaho enfranchised women. No Democratically dominated state in the U.S. did.
In 1920 the Republican sponsored 19th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution was voted in by Republican Majorities in a narrow margin party line vote in the House and Senate. America’s then Democrat President, Woodrow Wilson half heartedly pressed his party to vote for the measure only after Dr. Alice Paul marched in picket lines and burned effigies of Wilson.
The original civil rights acts designed to assure the voting rights of minority citizens were initiated by Republican President Eisenhower (by his secretary of state Christian Herter) with the first in 1957, and another in 1960. They were both watered down and defeated by the Democrats in the Senate including Albert Gore Sr. John F. Kennedy was absent so that he would not have to vote with the Democrats to defeat the civil rights act. The Democrat Senate leader, Lyndon Baines Johnson realized that the bill and its journey through Congress, could tear apart his party. As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1956 avowed racist Democrat James Eastland helped Johnson and the Democrat party scuttle the legislation.
Eisenhower encouraged Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen of Illinois and Representative William M. McCulloch of Ohio, the Republican leaders in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to stay the course. The legislation that was eventually voted into law to include the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act by a majority of Republicans were almost identical to the earlier 1957 civil rights act voted down by Democrats. In the wake of JFK’s assassination, President Johnson supported the legislation, but it never would have become law without the staunch and uninterrupted advocacy of Republican Leaders from before the 1957 Act.
Paddy Crap is (as always) a liberal liar mouthing the liberal program of no facts.
Posted by: Amused by liberals on May 24, 2006 01:52 PMA part of this not covered by the story: with a $1 MM dollars on the line there will be great interest by the general public in insuring only one vote per person!
Mark Austeroll(?) interviewd.
Posted by: StephenR from Houston on May 24, 2006 02:40 PMThink about that for a moment... Now wouldn't that just encourage every ILegal person (who could probalby use the money cause thats what they're here for dont ya know) to vote?!?
It would encourage by incentinve "beating" the system that would supposedly "catch and prosecute" multiple and illegal voters.
Paying people to vote is against the law for very good reasons. This idea being one of them.
"Any person who does submit two ballots by mail has just committed a crime, AND left a full paper trail to prove it. Not exactly the best way to commit a successful fraud, hmm?"
No, the best way is to steal a duplicate ballot that the system issued in error:
http://www.soundpolitics.com/archives/006202.html
That way, the "full paper trail" points to the victim, not the criminal who stole the ballot and fraudulently cast it.
And Paddy Mac thinks that's just dandy.
Posted by: ewaggin on May 24, 2006 07:04 PMMy hunch is that the Elections Office screwed up once again and rather than replace the original registration they gave her a new one.
The REAL problem here is two fold. 1) the elections office's inability to get simple changes made correctly and 2) the question as to whether Julia actually received two ballots (in September and November last year) and if so, why she did nothing to really correct the problem.
Democrats have a long history of discrimination. Strom Thurmond was a Democrat when he raped the mother of his first-born; he was a Democrat when he ran for President on the slogan "Segregation Forever". He was a Democrat when he spoke in opposition to the Civil RIGHTS Act of 1957; he still holds the all-time Senate record for that filibuster. This history ended with the victory of the Civil RIGHTS Movement, which forced Strom out of the Democratic Party. The once-proud Republicans eagerly accepted racists like Strom, and now that majority party, firmly rooted in the South, has not one single African-American serving in Congress. Just like the old-time Southern Democrats.
Finally, back to the main point: if the database contains two similar names, the clerks should check it. I have much experience with statewide political databases, and I have seen many "obvious" duplications which actually were two different persons. The state must err on the side of caution, because if it starts throwing legitimate citizens off of the voting rolls for the mere appearance of duplication, it could face severe penalties, under federal statutes like the Voting RIGHTS Act.
But, like conservatives of old, SP has no problem disenfranchising the "wrong" people. (Liberals, this time.) They shouldn't have the "privilege" of voting anyway, right? Just ask Strom.
Posted by: Paddy Mac on May 24, 2006 11:26 PMBesides ignoring the obvious, you pervert history with lies in a frantic attempt to lend legitimacy to your degenerate views.
Hey Paddy Crap, its obvious to everyone but you that men cannot revoke Elaine's privilege because women are in the majority . . . dim-wit”
Your comprehension of our American system of processes and laws and under the Constitution is both deplorable and comically pathetic.
It is in line with other similar attributes displayed by your comments.
Your claims about Strom Thurmond are apocryphal, and the fact that you must exploit a narrow thread of trendy liberal legend about one person to make your point shows how trifling your claim is. In popular culture the fact that Liberal Democrats are adept at pandering to minorities has very little connection with the fact that those who enslaved them in the past were also Democrats. That is changing and liberal Democrat clowns who openly disrespect Condoleeza Rice are causing many to take notice of the liberal Democrat brand of “tolerance”. Liberalism in its essence is – as you demonstrate -- a doctrine of enslavement to ignorance, denial and stupidity. Thanks for the assistance.
Not one single conservative here, young or old, ever hinted at any interest or inclination to disenfranchise anyone. Observing that >”Julia Patterson should be concerned” when quite apparently she isn’t, hardly qualifies as disenfranchisement. You are straining way too hard to make a non-existent case but I appreciate it. Your resort to any foolish nonsense in order to twist simple straight forward comments into sinister indicia of conservative wickedness is fun for me.
Your comments only show how desperate and clueless you are.
Thanks very much.
Posted by: Amused by liberals on May 25, 2006 11:19 AM"Finally, back to the main point: if the database contains two similar names, the clerks should check it."
Hey Paddy, would you do us all a favor, and break that news to Logan?
He's on record as saying that it's not his responsibility to do that.
Posted by: ewaggin on May 25, 2006 10:34 PMYou are saying that Patterson is planning her career path in the tracks of Patty Murray.
The stupider you are the less you will have to answer questions and the more you can shuffle your cynical indolent way through. In a way I’m glad that Murray is there. If we have to be represented by a Democrat, we may as well be represented by one too friggin’ stupid to do us much real harm.