Some little birds gave me some interesting tips today.
1) Ron Sims is reportedly negotiating an offer with an undisclosed candidate to become Sims' next (appointed) elections director.
2) Interim Elections Director Jim Buck (Jimron) was reportedly entertaining a visitor today, Brian Newby, Elections Commissioner of Johnson County, Kansas.
I have no idea whether Newby is the candidate to be Deanron2. But it's an intriguing coincidence that Newby is under pressure to resign from Johnson County because of some questionable provisional ballots that may well have changed the outcome of a disputed election. So he'd be a perfect fit for Ron Sims' elections office!
Either way, whomever Sims appoints to be elections director should be willing to run for the office next February.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at March 12, 2007 10:54 PM | Email ThisNot too sure why Mr Sims is interviewing someone from a county of 12,657 compared to King County's 1,737,034
Posted by: Green Lake Mark on March 12, 2007 11:43 PMCan you fix the vote?
Posted by: JCM on March 13, 2007 09:04 AMGosh something I agree with Sam Reed on... did hell just freeze over?
Posted by: Gentry on March 13, 2007 10:23 AMOn the surfacey biography, Newby seems to have followed a political path to this position....not a stepping stone, experience path.
Consequently, with his lack of experience in key areas, Newby would likely be subject to control by his staff & boss. Sadly.
In addition, it's hard to believe Sims would hire someone with a dark cloud over his head on issues similiar to KingKounty's debacle.......unless, of course, Sims is trotting this guy out because he was appointed by a Republican Secretary of State to make some sort of point???? Time will tell. My guess is Sims wants precisely what we are giving him....attention to a Republican-appointee who made errors.
Posted by: Mr. Cynical on March 13, 2007 10:43 AMKansas City Star, 2/1/07:
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/opinion/16591681.htm
"Democrat Gene Rardin has been representing the 16th House District, which includes portions of Overland Park and Lenexa, since the session began early last month. His Republican opponent, Dennis Kriegshauser, is pursuing every avenue to challenge Rardin's apparent victory on Nov. 7.
Election night results showed Kriegshauser leading by 27 votes. After provisional ballots were counted, however, Rardin was declared the winner by four votes.
Because the vote was so close, Kriegshauser was entitled by law to a recount. After examining ballots, the Johnson County election office narrowed Rardin's lead to three votes. An examination and ruling by Johnson County Judge Steve Tatum made it a two-vote victory. Kriegshauser continued to dispute the result."
Kansas City Star, 2/7/07:
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/16639152.htm
"At issue were five provisional or challenged ballots cast in the 16th District during November's general election. The Johnson County Board of Election Canvassers found that Rardin had won the election by three votes.
Eric Carter, Kriegshauser's attorney, had contended that four of the ballots were cast illegally by voters who didn't reside in the House district.
However, lawmakers said they were unable to determine which candidate those voters chose."
The official results:
Kansas House of Representatives 016
D-Gene Rardin 4,131 50.0 %
R-John Dennis Kriegshauser 4,128 49.9 %
http://www.kssos.org/elections/06elec/2006GeneralElectionOfficialResults.pdf
To recap: after the regular ballots were counted, Kriegshauser lead by 27. After the provisional ballots were counted, Rardin lead by 4.
I couldn't find the number of provisional ballots cast, but that's a swing of 31 votes (out of 8259).
A recount reduced Rardin's lead to 3. That result was challenged, and a judge threw out another provisional ballot, reducing Rardin's lead to 2.
So every time the provisional ballots were examined, more were disqualified. Kriegshauser challenged 4 other provisional ballots. Apparently those should also have been disqualified, but will be allowed to stand, because "...lawmakers said they were unable to determine which candidate those voters chose."
In other words, kind of like how DeanRon allowed provisional ballots to be fed into the counting machines, and since the PB's were identical to the regular ballots, they could not then be separated, and were allowed to stand.
Provisional ballots really are just another way of aiding and abetting distributed vote fraud.
Posted by: ewaggin on March 13, 2007 12:48 PM"search for" : "provisional ballots"
(easier and more to the point than finding a good candidate)
Posted by: righton on March 13, 2007 01:53 PMI think a few of you here are rushing to judgment on Newby. I'm from Johnson County and I can tell you that Newby has been a great election commissioner. He has a strong reputation in our community and is known for his tech savvy, calm demeanor and high ethical standards.
Honestly...think about it...if he was under pressure to leave ...how would he be landing a potential position in larger market for likely higher pay? Johnson County is not that big.
As for the election in question that is being discussed...a few items to note. Newby is a registered Republican and a Conservative....why would he fix a vote for a Democratic candidate? Also, I followed this case a bit and specifically remember the judge in the case taking a moment to comment on how well the Johnson County Election office managed this very close race. That's all this was....a close race where the loser wanted the votes counted again...understandable, too...as the race was quite close.
In my opinion, King County would have scored quite a coup to get Newby, however, I hope he stays here. Our elections are in good hands with him at the helm. Kansas may be small town....but just like you folks in Seattle, we like our elections clean, too.