September 19, 2006
Deanron2 identified!

This evening's Seattle Times identifies the man who would have been Deanron2:

King County Executive Ron Sims offered the post to John Arntz, elections director in San Francisco, but he turned it down last week.
I guess we would have had to call him Johnron.

The Times also reports :

King County reported problems setting up new voting machines for disabled voters and flaws in about 10,000 absentee ballots.

The department expects that about 3,700 of the flawed ballots were used by voters. The ballots cannot be read by vote-tabulating machines, so poll workers will have to copy the votes onto new ballots before they can be counted.

Sound familiar? It should.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at September 19, 2006 11:26 PM | Email This
Comments
1. How about "Arn-ron"?

Isn't filling this position kind of like the old Groucho Marx joke?

Isn't anyone who would accept the job inherently unqualified (too stupid) to serve in the position?

Posted by: Happy on September 19, 2006 11:31 PM
2. Oh boy--more trouble down at KCE.

As George Costanza used to say on Seinfeld: "MAKE IT STOP!!"

Posted by: Michele on September 19, 2006 11:50 PM
3. Wait a minute---POLL WORKERS will be copying new ballots? As in before they even get to KCE they will be copied? Is there proper oversight? How do we know they won't fudge and "copy" them the way THEY want it copied, if you get my drift?

Posted by: Michele on September 19, 2006 11:57 PM
4. No, these are absentee ballots that were sent to voters.

They will be copied by election employees (Teamsters Local 17) overseen by people overseen by Ron Sims.

Doesn't that make you feel better?

Posted by: Scoop on September 20, 2006 12:23 AM
5. "In Ohio, results from the May primary election were delayed for nearly a week in Cuyahoga County (Cleveland) when thousands of absentee ballots were incorrectly formatted for electronic scanners and had to be counted by hand."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/16/AR2006091600885_pf.html

Assuming KC Elections pays attention to lessons learned elsewhere, what did they learn from this? Was it, "Oooh... let's make sure that doesn't happen to us," or was it, "Oooh... now that's a hell of an idea"?

Or are they going to fall back on their tried-and-true excuse of, "Hey, don't look at us, we're just stupid"?

Posted by: TB on September 20, 2006 12:47 AM
6. Uh yah, Scoop, suddenly I feel so assured.

Posted by: Michele on September 20, 2006 12:54 AM
7. http://www.fairvote.org/sf/sftimeline.htm


WOW I am glad he turned Ronny Down. Reading the link above, sounds like DeanRon all over again, but with an attitude.

Posted by: Chris on September 20, 2006 06:45 AM
8. Why are only 10,000 of the ballots flawed? Doesn't that imply that they are making ballots in batches? Shouldn't there be one "master" ballot that they use as a template?

Basically, shouldn't all of the ballots be flawed or none of them be?

Posted by: Michael on September 20, 2006 07:13 AM
9. "Director John Arntz, who has been the director since the firing on April 22, 2002 of previous director Tammy Haygood, first began working at the (San Francisco) Department of Elections in 1999 as a desk clerk, behind the counter answering phones and giving forms to the public. Previously he had ZERO election experience, and ZERO administrative or supervisorial experience." http://www.fairvote.org/sf/sftimeline.htm

John Arntz sounds like Sims' kind of guy, the most amazing thing is that Sims actually admitted considering the application!

It would be announcements like that making it nearly impossible to fill all those other vacant positions at REALS. Why apply for a job where the fellow who delivers Mr. Sims paper in the morning could easily become your next boss?

Posted by: iyq2 on September 20, 2006 07:38 AM
10. ...and Johnron was the best find after (presumably) big regional/nationwide search? wow.
Copying votes onto ballots? is this 2006? efficiencies? improved automation?

yet more junk & excuses from a failed organizaton. we must love pain & mediocrity. "WWNCNMLKS" ("what would newly-county-named MLK say")

Posted by: jimmie-howya-doin on September 20, 2006 11:53 AM
11. Copying votes onto ballots? is this 2006? efficiencies? improved automation?

Actually it's what New Yorkers used to call Tammany Hall.

Ron S's favorite new guaranteed win recipe for 2006. Also known as Ron's Boss Tweed meat loaf:

Take 10k "flawed" ballots (be sure to always use absentee ballots).

Separate 3.7k ballots for copying by trusted lackeys aka poll workers.

Add 3.7k copied ballots to previously tabulated ballots.

Check new tabulation for winner.

If annointed son/daughter/issue is not the winner keep copying and adding ballots from remainder of original 10k resrve until desired results are attained.

Attention all election gourmands! Ron is looking for new and innovative recipes for November!

Posted by: Tyler Durden on September 20, 2006 03:46 PM
12. How is the PRR coming along on this Stefan?

Posted by: chris on September 20, 2006 06:08 PM
13. Tyler, you may jest, but what you describe is probably very close to the truth.

Posted by: Organization Man on September 20, 2006 06:18 PM
14. Who will history hold in greater contempt, the corrupt and the incompetent or the populace that would do nothing while chains were fastened upon them?

Yak, Sound Politics, yak, yak, Sound Politics, yak, yak, yak ... oh look Braveheart arrived from Netflix again. Well cheerio, keep a stiff upper lip, carry on, and all that ... Until the next time I feel like just yak, yak, yaking.

Posted by: Jericho on September 20, 2006 10:24 PM