1. I was not particularly pleased with the way this article was presented either.

I was not quoted or referenced properly in this article. To clarify more appropriately:

We do not have an exact figure to reflect the number of voters that have called stating " I never received any ballot".

As I am a "working manager" per se, I am assisting the voters over the phone and at the counter as part of the team, and place this at about 2 - 3 voters a day this week.

We make every attempt at being aware of any potential problems and researching any anomalies.

If a voter calls due to losing or damaging their ballot we assist them in replacing the ballot and record as "voter required a duplicate ballot" (we dont track down to lost or damaged).

I also stated that with the turnout expected for this election (the first Federal election since going VBM) that I would of course expect a few more calls of this nature before the election is over.

With potentially 2 to 3 dozen calls where the voter insisted the ballot did not arrive, out of 134,400 sent - this is much smaller than I personally anticipated.

Of course any ballot not initially making it to a voter is upsetting to me, but the initial article was under the belief that large portions of the ballots were not making it to the voters - more so than any other election. Which thankfully is not the case.

Which resulted in the aforementioned article.

Now as to "Itsy-bitsy".. yeah, I think I did say that.

If you have any questions, please reply.

Sincerely,

Keith Mullen
Assistant Manager of Elections
Thurston County Auditor's Office
mullenk@co.thurston.wa.us
360.786.5408

Posted by: Mullen, Keith on November 3, 2006 06:03 PM

2. Keith Mullen,

Thanks for commenting. I do have a question. The other day I was in the auditors office registering my father in law to vote. The lady at the counter (I didn't get her name) never asked to see any ID. I thought perhaps she saw my Father in Laws Drivers license while he was filling it out. But then she went on to help another man who came in to change where his absentee abllot was going to. All she asked him for was his name. She looked up his address and then asked him if the Alaska address was the one he needed changed. He said that the Alaska address was where it used to go and he now needed it to go to another address. Once again no ID. On the other hand the two gentlemen working the desk seemed to check everyones ID that came in to register.

Posted by: TrueSoldier on November 3, 2006 07:22 PM

3. Current state law has some oddities as far "ID Required" is concerned. Particularly when you consider the implications of "Washington Ass'n of Churches et al V. Sam Reed" taking the intent of HAVA from - all voters identities being verified prior to being eligible to vote (read registration validated) - to the verification being placed then upon the validity of the ballot.

Ironically The 9th District overwhelmingly ruled in favor of ID requirement being tied to the registration in the recent case involving Arizona's identification laws. It will be interesting to see what comes about, as this directly contradicts Washington's ruling.

But I digress...

For the purposes of a registered voter that has been grandfathered in (registered prior to Jan 01, 2006) or has already provided ID / passed identity verification, there are no requirements for ID for future voting.

Voters that have not yet met current requirements have been asked to either send us ID verification or appear and provide it directly to us. This may have been the case.

What is the more likely scenario is as follows.We cannot forceably demand ID at the counter for registration services or ballots, however if a voter already has ID in their hand we will politely ask if we may see the ID, as it is presumptive they intend to identify themselves to begin with.

Additionally, WAC has been changed recently for those voters whose signatures are challenged. They may also provide ID at the time of curing their ballot at the counter with photo ID.

Aside from your observation I hope that our service was satisfactory.

Sincerely,

Keith

Posted by: Mullen, Keith on November 3, 2006 08:14 PM

4. Thanks Keith for the info. It is kind of a scary thought when you think of it that one could actually look at the voter database. Find someone who is around the same age as oneself and who does not regularly vote. Go to the auditor's office and say they need to change the address where the absentee ballot goes to. All without ever having their ID checked. It seems to me that this could lead to huge voter fraud.

Posted by: TrueSoldier on November 4, 2006 08:00 AM

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