March 22, 2007
90 day clock has started

Citizens for Accountable Elections received final approval for its petitions. It now has 90 days (until June 20) to collect 54,732 valid signatures of King County voters. If successful, the following question will appear on this November's ballot:

Shall the King County Charter be amended to require that the county director of elections be a nonpartisan elected office?
Polling shows that if the measure qualifies for the ballot, it WILL pass. But collecting enough signatures will take both money and work. If you want to help gather signatures in King County, e-mail: info .AT. accountableelections.org to request petitions.

The timeline also demands paid signature gathering. Whether you live in King County or elsewhere, everybody has an interest in fair elections in King County. Join me and contribute to ensure that the measure qualifies and wins. Donate online here. $20? $100? $1,000? What are fair elections worth to you?

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at March 22, 2007 07:09 PM | Email This
Comments
1. I just gave $100. Everyone needs to do their part. Give what you can!

Posted by: Obi-Wan on March 22, 2007 07:57 PM
2. I pledge to sign as many times as possible as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. That way, you get to pay your shill signature gatherers for their effort but find out that those signers have been disqualified.

Posted by: Unk on March 22, 2007 08:22 PM
3. Well, thanks for the heads up, John Richard Kiker, aka "Unkl Witz"

what you propose doing is a Class C felony.

I'll let the campaign know to press charges against you if a lot of Mickey Mouse signatures happen to show up.

Posted by: Stefan Sharkansky on March 22, 2007 08:29 PM
4. You do that Stef. Let's see if you can get any more traction out of it than you have with your endless charges against King County for "voter fraud" that both sides of the aisle have reviewed and dismissed.

Rots of ruck!

Posted by: Unk on March 22, 2007 08:44 PM
5. Oh, and mark me down for a donation of $000.00. I will paypal you for the balance.

Posted by: Unk on March 22, 2007 08:47 PM
6. Oh and remember before you sign a petiton to ask and verify that the person collecting these signatures has signed the part of the petition that shows who collected your signatures.

The democrats in this state, yeh the same ones who are so regularly telling you that every vote should count, just passed a measure that will throw out all of your initiative votes if the individual collecting them doesn't sign on the correct line.

Gotta love em. Glad they are so interested in your vote.

Posted by: GS on March 22, 2007 09:00 PM
7. Rich Kiker--
Aren't you a former Safeco bombout who hates Mike McGavick because he got rid of dead wood like yourself???
Get out it Rich....you looooooser!

Posted by: dude on March 22, 2007 10:02 PM
8. Rich Kiker--
Aren't you a former Safeco bombout who hates Mike McGavick because he got rid of dead wood like yourself???
Get over it Rich....you looooooser!

Posted by: dude on March 22, 2007 10:02 PM
9. Wooo Hooo! The Citizens for Accountable Elections has another $25.00 to help counter the 'Witzless' citizens of King County

Posted by: me on March 22, 2007 10:10 PM
10. Fully moon-battery on display @2, @4, @5. Anyone have a photo of John Richard Riker, aka, "Unk" and "Unkl Witz"? I'd be happy to collect signatures and see if he signs a petition with a false name.

What an idiot. He thinks that a pseudonym protects one's identity. WRONG! Someone in the unemployment line must have given little Johnnie Richie Kiker the wrong information.

Publish a picture of John Richard Kiker. I'll volunteer to collect signature just on the off chance that he'll commit a felony and sign my petition with a false name.

Hey, JRK, I submit that your name in prison will be either "Bitch Kiker," or "Ben Dover." Enjoy the love.

As a final parting shot from the "tolerant" left, little Richie, @4, goes out of his way to insult via a racial slur, Stefan's wife.

Thank you, "Unk," "Unkl Witz," and John Richard Kiker for exposing the hateful left.

Posted by: Obi-Wan on March 22, 2007 10:14 PM
11. Witz....

Typical LIB... it's your way or no way.

So much for EVERYONES rights!

Posted by: Army Medic/Vet on March 23, 2007 07:45 AM
12. Any relation to Jane Kiker, the noted attorney? Google Search shows a lot of articles about Jane Kiker?

Posted by: swatter on March 23, 2007 08:24 AM
13. Well, I was going to donate $20 to the cause, but UNK just motivated me to up the ante to $100.

Posted by: NW Denizen on March 23, 2007 09:49 AM
14. In the immortal words of the first President Bush 'Ain't gonna happen'.

Best of luck getting signatures on something that relativity few people beyond this blog actually care about.

Posted by: Cato on March 23, 2007 09:55 AM
15. stefan: your hard work and seemingly tireless efforts on this issue compelled me to contribute.

good luck to those gathering signatures!

Posted by: dinesh on March 23, 2007 10:06 AM
16. Despite my skepticism about claims of vote fraud in 2004, and my general belief that only political positions should be elected, I mighyt support this initiative. Stefan (or anyone else): How many of the nation's (say) 20 biggest counties elect their directors of elections? How many have switched from elected to appointed, or appointed to elected, in the past 20 years, and why?

Posted by: Bruce on March 23, 2007 10:52 AM
17. Well I may get flamed for this, and I live in eastern Washington so really my opinion matter little.

However you may want to look at the Portland Oregon region for the long term results of "non-partisan" elections.

I just am not a huge fan of non-partisan positions anymore. Because they are ALL partisan they just don't like to say it. What has happened in the Portland Metro area is that those "non-partisan" seats have become a breeding ground for the leftist of the left and there is no "opposition" party to offer an alternative. Thus what has happened is that the metro republican party has become increasingly marginalized to the point that it is now utterly irrelevant.

Yip Yip

Posted by: Coyote on March 23, 2007 11:08 AM
18. Cato, the bet is on!!

coyote, the same over here.

Posted by: swatter on March 23, 2007 11:16 AM
19. Bruce,

It doesn't matter what the other counties do....we need to address the problems here. And as evidenced by what happens in King County, the elections director is a political position.

In fact, any appointee/nominee is a political person. To think otherwise is lacking some reality. The DCIA is not an elected official, yet they often seem to change with every administration, regardless of qualifications or reasons other than political/philisophical.

Support this initative so any skeptism at all can be better avoided. We need some accountability to re-establish trust and faith in the process and office.

Posted by: Chris on March 23, 2007 01:36 PM
20. Chris- You are right that we shouldn't necessarily follow other counties. On the other hand, the initiative sponsors argue that King County is the only county in WA that appoints its election director, implying that most counties know better. So it seems relevant what other counties our size do, and what issues they've had that may have led them to switch from one method to the other.

Posted by: Bruce on March 23, 2007 01:49 PM
21. Seems to me that you should just send the people to all the homeless shelters and the nurseing homes in king county and hell you would have all the sig you need right there.if its good enough for the left then it should be good for the right.

Posted by: me on March 23, 2007 03:03 PM
22. oh and dont forget all the little people who live in there little 4x4 postal box dont want to leave them out of this.

Posted by: me on March 23, 2007 03:06 PM
23. Bruce, I believe 9 of the biggest 10 and 16 of the biggest 20 counties in the country have appointed positions. I might be slightly off, but that's close if not exact.

Posted by: mr. smitty on March 23, 2007 03:27 PM
24. I agree with Coyote, with this additional observation: making the position "non-partisan" and elected is not likely to eliminate the bias which plagues King County Elections. After all, the people who will be electing this allegedly non-partisan functionary will be just as heavily Democratic as always.

Posted by: HT on March 23, 2007 05:57 PM
25. For consistence, the petition should read ..."director (or manager, which is the present title) of Records, Elections and Licensing Services be..." The county auditors in the other counties who are responsible for elections have these duties as well.

Posted by: Bob B. on March 25, 2007 03:03 PM
26. For consistency, the petition should read ..."director (or manager, which is the present title) of Records, Elections and Licensing Services be..." The county auditors in the other counties who are responsible for elections have these duties as well.

Posted by: Bob B. on March 25, 2007 03:03 PM
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