UPDATE: The County Council approved forced mail-voting on a party line vote, 5 Democrats YES, 4 Republicans NO. Most of the Republican amendments similary failed 4-5. My running liveblog commentary from the gallery is in the extended entry.
I'm in the Council gallery liveblogging the hearing. You can watch the proceedings on KCTV.
I'll amend my commentary to this post....
The house is full. The consideration of VBM has been moved up to item #2 on the agenda... It's now up for consideration...No public comment. ... beginning debate and discussion ... A package of amendments has been offered..
Kathy Lambert introduces amendment S-2 ... "changes need to be made in collaboration with the citizens" calls for a county-wide vote of citizens before this is approved. Patterson and Gossett oppose a citizen's vote.
Amendment fails 5-4 none of the Democrats want to let the people decide.
Ferguson introduces an amendment ... a move to vote-by-mail would only occur under three specific conditions...
a) new director and superintendent appointed and confirmed and on-board
b) director and elections staff have completed "cultural change" and management training.
c) Executive complete and submit plan for regional voting centers and ballot drop-off boxes
Lambert makes friendly amendment to take out deadline dates from Ferguson's amendment. Ferguson declines friendly amendment. ... Ferguson's amendment passes unanimously.
Dunn offers amendment to prohibit the proposed "Mobile Voting Units" because of fairness issues. Dean Logan, Larry Phillips and Larry Gossett all seem to think that mobile units are a good idea. Fails on a party line vote, 4 Republicans YES, 5 Democrats NO.
Lambert offers amendment to forbid mail ballots from being forwarded if voter has moved ...
Dean Logan says that under Washington law, counties have discretion whether to forward ... if ballots are forwarded, the county must get postal notice of new address ... Logan's policy has been to forward ballots. Doesn't know how many ballots were forwarded in recent elections.
Lambert reminds Logan that even if people move within the county they could get wrong ballot and vote in election in which they aren't eligible.
Patterson is concerned that "thousands of people will be disenfranchised" if ballots aren't forwarded (e.g. snowbirds and college students).
Hague says that anybody can contact the elections office and provide a mailing address where the ballot can go.
Logan responds to Lambert that he has no idea how long ballots are forwarded to a given voter.
Gossett says he doesn't care whether or not people commit fraud or vote in races when they're not eligible, he only wants to make it as easy as possible for people to vote.
Another party line vote. 4 Republicans vote YES. 5 Democrats vote NO.
Lambert proposes an amendment to place at least one regional polling center in each County Council district. Patterson pushes back.
Another party line vote. 4 Republicans vote YES. 5 Democrats vote NO.
Lambert proposes amendment of providing online information to voter on status of returned ballot. Logan says "nice idea, but not sure if can do it yet" Patterson says this is part of the Executive's proposal. Adopted unanimously.
Lambert proposes that elections office ask voters to update signature every 20 years. Logan says it's a no-op. Lambert withdraws amendment
[ I found wall power!]
Final passage: Patterson gives a closing statement. "Another major reform!" It will improve the precision of elections and reduce chance of human error." Doesn't even want to wait until there's a director.
Dunn: can't support this. no evidence of cost savings. ill-equipped to implement this. we're not ready. Calls for an elected auditor
Ferguson: tries to address Dunn's concerns. claims he agrees with Dunn on security concerns but somehow believes that voting by mail will enable county to best address these concerns. How? he doesn't say. "we're putting our resources in two different systems"
Hague: "I'm a Republican for choice". Informally polle her constituents. Many were concerned about security of mail, possibility of spousal abuse.
Lambert: Still a poll voter. Polling places are an important tradition to the fabric of this country. Says that only 51% of voters are permanent absentee. More people voted at polls in November 2004 than voted at all in 2005 primary. Saddened that the people won't get to decide this issue. Cited low turnout in Oregon's all-mail elections. Quoted newspaper article about failure in California of Diebold touch screens (which are planned for regional voting centers here)
Ordinance passes 5 Democrats, 4 Republicans. Oh well. Nothing partisan here.
I just spoke against the appropriations measure.
Patterson speaking in support of appropriations measure "transition is expected to take 18 months".
Appropriations passes 5 Democrats, 4 Republicans. Oh well. A $1.8 million gift of public funds to the Gregoire 2008 GOTV organization
Is the house full????
Posted by: Chris on June 19, 2006 01:58 PMAre they gag orders from patterson???
Posted by: Chris on June 19, 2006 02:01 PMPS NOT the same Fred on your Father's day post!
Posted by: Fred on June 19, 2006 02:05 PMI am sure that could be the reason, but most likely they want to get all the items on their agenda done today, and with all the PUBLIC in attendance, they would like them to leave ASAP so they can get the remaining items cleared.
Posted by: Chris on June 19, 2006 02:07 PMBecause they are chicken sh$t!!! They don't care what the PEOPLE say....
Posted by: Chris on June 19, 2006 03:03 PM(I don't doubt that he believes that, but I am surprised to see him say it so directly. He must not think those fraudulent votes will got to Republican candidates.)
Posted by: Jim Miller on June 19, 2006 03:07 PMPerfect!
Posted by: MJC on June 19, 2006 03:21 PMYou can quote me on that Julia !!!!
Posted by: Chris on June 19, 2006 03:31 PMThank you for speaking on behalf of the citizens of KC. Since the Democrats seem to speak for only themselves.
Posted by: Chris on June 19, 2006 04:04 PMWe just lost the vote in King County.
I think I am going to burn my ballot this year. It's not like it is going to be counted.
Posted by: Jay on June 19, 2006 04:05 PMWe just lost the vote in King County.
I think I am going to burn my ballot this year. It's not like it is going to be counted.
Posted by: Jay on June 19, 2006 04:05 PMI'm sending him an email...
Posted by: Erik on June 19, 2006 04:15 PMWarm up the Microscope for the Primary.....
Is there a way to get an AUDITOR in there, via petition or something?
Posted by: Chris on June 19, 2006 04:25 PMA protest vote will change nothing. Voting Republican might. Sure vote by mail will make electing Republicans more difficult, but since when has difficult ever stopped us?
If you're disgusted by this travesty, then find local Republican candidates and put some time and money into helping get them elected. Work hard to create a grass-roots infrastructure that can effectively communicate the message of common sense.
It won't be easy--nothing worth doing ever is--and it won't happen over night, but with perseverance and hope we can transform both King County and the entire state.
We've got an election ahead of us, and 60% of the people believe the state is going in the wrong direction. We can do this things. Don't give up.
Posted by: Nathan Azinger on June 19, 2006 04:35 PMMy advice is to support non-moonbat democrats. At least then there's some chance of our voices being heard. Sound defeatist? Maybe.
I just emailed Sims and the entire council and told them it was disturbing to me that despite the unanimous public objection, the lack of cost savings, and the fact that they had *not* made their case for increased ballot security that they went ahead and voted for this nonsense anyway. I'll post any responses I get.
Posted by: Steve_dog on June 19, 2006 04:47 PMDon't give the Democrats this victory. It's only a matter of time before the sleeping majority wakes up to what is happening and dumps the Democrats locally like they're doing it nationally. The Demcorats "pro-fraud" voting plan will only help them in the tight elections, so they'll just have to be defeated by margins large enough to offset the fraud.
Today's victory for the Democrats was purely of their making. It was completely partisan, and they have demonstrated their rabid partisanship on an issue as important as our elections process. And if that isn't enough to wake people up, and I doubt it is, there are plenty of other issues where the Gossetts and Pattersons will eventually fire up enough voters to seal their fate.
We know that Democrats can't run a government without bankrupting and corrupting it, so the clock is ticking.
Posted by: MJC on June 19, 2006 05:00 PMIs that a direct quote, a paraphrase, or an extrapolation? Is there some official record of his statement? Even if he really believes just that, I find it difficult to believe that anyone with the political smarts to get elected would be so politically obtuse as to actually say that.
We will continue to be vigilant to prevent the kind of manipulation that occured when Logan and KCE counted unauthenticated absentee ballots. Given the increased scrutiny and the lower Dem turnout as mentioned above, ultimately this hurts the left, especially in off year elections.
It's still a bad idea, but it's going to hurt Demcocrats more than Republicans. All we have to do is give the left more rope, they'll hang themselves based on their lack of principles.
Posted by: Jeff B. on June 19, 2006 05:38 PMIt is a paraphrase....But it is an accurate one. After listening to Gossett, I am not sure how he got elected...His grammer, and speaking abilities are that of a 3rd grader. He just repeated everything Patterson sputtered, it was quite sickening.
You can watch it again on KCTV at the link stefan provides in the extended entry i believe. They are rebroadcasting at 7 pm I think. Check it out, but be warned, it is pretty discusting TV.....
Posted by: Chris on June 19, 2006 05:40 PMOK RIGHT THINKERS... make yourselves heard!
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/soundoff/comment.asp?articleID=274493
King County Council action likely delays all mail vote
"The King County Council voted unanimously today for an amendment to delay the county's transition to an all mail-in ballot election system, effectively pushing back the likely start date."
Posted by michaelsclass at 6/19/06 6:48 p.m.
I will not vote by mail.
I will not simply fill out a form and drop it in the nearest mailbox, never knowing if it reached its intended destination.
No receipt? No signature confirmation that the mail was delivered? No confirmation that the vote was tallied?
THEN, NO VOTE
Posted by michaelsclass at 6/19/06 7:42 p.m.
If you do vote by mail - SEND YOUR BALLOT DIRECTLY TO RON SIMS AND REQUEST A RETURN-RECEIPT SIGNATURE CONFIRMATION
Keep in mind, you can NOT use html in the PI forums...
Post away!
Posted by: Cheryl on June 19, 2006 08:13 PMPosted by jbg7 at 6/19/06 8:14 p.m.
I'm glad they delayed the transition. I wish they'd ditched the idea altogether.
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Vote-by-mail is insecure, unreliable and open to fraud. It takes away our secret ballot. Forced mail voting, where everyone has to rely on the postal service, is an order of magnitude worse.
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The other thing everyone is ignoring is that they plan to have Diebold touch screen machines -- the worst voting technology around -- in the regional voting centers!
*
I'm a hard core democrat, but I was ashamed of my party today. Elections procedures should never be determined in a partisen manner. I would have liked to see all the voters in King County be allowed to weigh in. Other counties conducted at least advisory elections before going to forced mail voting, and Oregon did too.
Voting Anti-Democrat in all local races (not National) in November is the only answer.
Posted by: KS on June 19, 2006 08:50 PMOurs didn't...Clark County...it was a decision of the County Commissioners (given the advice of the County Auditor & the SOS) We had no say in the outcome. This is a sad day for clean & honest elections in this state.
Posted by: Susu on June 19, 2006 08:56 PMNotice I did not address you as citizens, because that would imply that I desire and would accept your participation governing my county. Truth be told, I know what's best for you, and while I don't often say it, it's obvious to me that you're too stupid to make the important decisions for yourselves.
Let's take an honest look at how I’ve made your lives better over the past ten years, I’ve designated 100,000 acres of land as green space. Sure this limits the available places to build homes for young, growing families, and artificially increases the price of houses, but think of all of the additional property tax dollars I collect from bloated property values. Those dollars are used for programs that make life better for selected King County Residents.
Besides, young families should live in high density urban housing, where they have access to transit, which cuts down on the number of cars on the roads, and are close to day care so both parents can work. I’ve worked on making it harder to drive a car in the Puget Sound for years, and I’m proud of the results we’re seeing today.
So all of you who are upset about not being able to go to the polls and get your little “I Voted” stickers need to consider the bigger picture, the greater good if you will. Open, honest elections create an unacceptable risk of Democrats not winning important seats. If we loose power, who will tell you where to live, what to put in your body, and how much of your paycheck you can keep?
So this November, vote, or don’t…I don’t really care anymore, I’m so excited about the new VBM law I can hardly wait until after the election to release the results.
King County Executive for Life,
Ron Sims
MJC,
I just posted what I thought about the whole thing under the name 'QASteve' on the PI's site. I'll refer you to Stalin's famous quote: "It doesn't matter who casts the votes, what matters is who counts them,".
The democrats have done it: They've installed a system completely devoid of oversight and accoutability.
They now have the ability to pretty much do whatever they want, whenever they want, for whatever reason they want. Ron Sims wants to stick sex offender homeless in the park next to your school? He'll do it 'till you cry 'uncle' and accept the higher property tax to pay for his "solution" to create more voters...,er, end homelessness.
Like driving your car? Too bad, Ron doesn't...say hello to more boondoggle projects, generously funded by the taxpayers.
It's a shame, really - Seattle is such a nice place to live. Is this post over the top? Sure it is, but that's the government we have.
The only bright spot to this whole mess is what someone pointed out above - every GOP candidate coming down the pike better holler this one from every rooftop and make his/her dem opponent go on record as having approved of this farce.
There's a smaller bright spot as well - the next time Goldy or some other barking moonbat yelps about how Bush is stealing democracy, it'll be my pleasure to laugh in their faces.
Posted by: Steve_dog on June 19, 2006 10:46 PMGossett--true to form; who cares about fraud; at least this ex Black Panther gang member is consistent; a public official openly stating he does not care about fraud is an affront to all voters; arrogance? cocky confidence in the public's apathy? like a dope dealer openly working the streets; you picked him--so enjoy!
Posted by: Jimmie-howya-doin on June 20, 2006 04:45 AMThat's exactly what NOT to do. One of their arguments for forcing mail voting is the lack of poll workers. You're only playing into their hands. Their strategy is to get more people to vote by mail not only by closing the polling places when they can, but also by talking down poll voting at every chance they can get and demotivating poll voters and poll workers.
Posted by: Stefan Sharkansky on June 20, 2006 07:39 AMThis is not over.
Posted by: Gary on June 20, 2006 10:01 AM