According to the King County Council website, a public hearing has been scheduled on the vote-by-mail ordinance, to be held during next Monday's Full Committee meeting.
However you feel about vote-by-mail, this is a good opportunity to make known any concerns or thoughts you have about the ordinance.
Posted by Jonathan Bechtle at May 31, 2006 10:15 AM | Email ThisDemocrat councilmembers won't listen or care, but the press will be there and the presentation of some facts may make approval difficult.
Just because it's convenient, does not justify compromising our elections process. Saving money is not a justification either. The goal of any system is to prevent the illegal and invalid vote from cancelling out the valid and legal vote.
Posted by: MJC on May 31, 2006 10:26 AMFrom: "John Hearing"
Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2006 9:26 PM
Subject: I-932 Update and meeting
Hi folks,
Down to a little over month and petitions are trickling in, but we're still hopeful. Please start sending in petitions if you have them full or nearly so; If you don't have a petition and would like one, please download one from the I-932 website www.countychoice.org or email us and we'll get one to you.
We're having a "howgozit" meeting tomorrow evening, May 31st, at 7:00 pm at the IHOP in Issaquah. If you would like to come ask questions, get petitions or brochures, or just help keep the juices flowing, come join us.
King County is continuing their lack of support for rural and suburban residents, as you have seen in the news, which makes I-932 more important than ever. They recently appointed a new "Rural Ombudsman" to listen to our problems--of course he's from Utah, doesn't have an connections with rural concerns, and, in effect, has no power to anything other than "feel our pain". Also, the Times reported today the the County fees for land use are among the highest in the nation.... Not to mention they charge you for the time it takes them to drive from Seattle to the unincorporated areas... If you want to change things, I-932 is our best chance to
create a government that will listen to us.
Thanks for your support and keep those signatures coming...
Sincerely, John
Please, please PLEASE, if you can't go to the meeting, at least get a petition and GET IT SIGNED!
Posted by: Cheryl on May 31, 2006 01:07 PMRepubicans everywhere like it --
Democrats everywhere like it...
People everywhere like it.
Only blue folks in red states and red people in blue states complain....
Let it happen! Stop the madness!
Posted by: LovinUSA on May 31, 2006 01:26 PMGive it to your local Union Boss to fill out.
It is already happening so why won't this make it happen more?
Posted by: Ted on May 31, 2006 01:41 PMGoing to all-mail voting to solve election problems is like disconnecting the dashbord lights on a car to solve automotive problems. It may make the problems invisible, but will do nothing to correct them; to the contrary, it make the problems more insidious and harder to diagnose.
Posted by: supercat on May 31, 2006 03:00 PMYES! Except for those who physically can't make it to the polls. Obtaining an absentee ballot should require enough special effort to make it more of a hassle that simply going to the polls such that only those who legitimately couldn't make it would bother.
Posted by: RBW on May 31, 2006 03:24 PMThree questions:
1. Are there any reasonably-intelligent people who would like to vote more than once?
2. Would all-mail voting provide any effective means of preventing reasonably-intelligent but dishonest people from voting more than once?
3. Under all-mail voting, would a reasonably-intelligent person voting more than once have any reason to fear getting caught?
I don't think any reasonable person could answer "no" to number 1. If there are people who want to cheat, some effective means of preventing or discouraging cheating will be a prerequisite to running a fair election. What such means exist with all-mail ballots?
Suppose I decide to register myself to an out-of-state address, marking my address as a city park and signing the registration form with an "X" (filling in random squiggles in the "Witnesses" spot). How could anyone prove that I don't really live at that park or, if they did, how could they prove that I personally had anything whatsoever to do with that registration form?
Even if I were "caught", prosecution would be basically impossible because there would be no way to prove that I had done anything. Anyone could have filled in the registration with my name; if the existence of a bogus registration were proof of malfeasance, anyone could frame anyone else.
Given that there are people who would like to cheat, what reason is there to believe that none of them in fact do so?
Posted by: supercat on May 31, 2006 04:14 PM"No, I don't get it, because you haven't explained it."
e., I'm assuming you're new to the site, as this topic has been the subject of many previous posts.
Short response: Current situation (60-70% mail ballots) is bad. Proposed 100% VBM (vote by mail) is much worse, as option to vote in-person is eliminated.
Longer response: Policies and procedures adopted by KC Elections under Logan have greatly increased a), the odds of a given mail ballot being mishandled; and b), the opportunities for vote fraud in general, and VBM fraud in particular. Thus, elimination of VBM would indeed be preferred, but is not the option currently under consideration. Hence, maintaining the status quo is the lesser of two evils.
For further information, search this site using "mail ballot", "VBM", "absentee voting", etc.
Posted by: ewaggin on May 31, 2006 04:21 PMHand audited paper ballots with publicly owned source code yes.
60% voting by mail. No.
Forced vote by mail and Diebold TSX touchscreens. Hell no!
Partisan bickering will not solve the election problems.
Posted by: Gentry Lange on May 31, 2006 07:25 PMSome of you seem like the "village idiot" harmless but annoying and at times cunning.
Joe b
Posted by: joeb on June 21, 2006 11:58 AM