I'm pleased to discover that King County Elections staff not only read Sound Politics, but recognize it as a credible source of information and even act on our reports to investigate election problems and improve processes. No, really. But read to the end.
For example, this post last September prompted spokeswoman Bobbie Egan to contact Oregon election officials and our Secretary of State's office to ensure that voters who relocate and register to vote in a new state get their registrations cancelled in their old state. Kudos to Bobbie.
Natasha Jones, who gave me a terrific tour of the mail ballot processing last November commended my report as "pretty even-handed". (this is high-praise coming from a group that routinely snipes at the Seattle Times for being slanted).
And this post prompted staff to investigate and discover that several voters whose registrations had been cancelled as deceased were subsequently reinstated and voting. (I assume this means the original cancellations were in error). Kudos to Bobbie and Garth Fell for looking into it. Let's hope this led to operational improvements to reduce the number of incidents where voters are cancelled in error.
While Garth was looking into the mishandled voter records above, the then Assistant Director, now Director-nominee, Sherril Huff was also e-mailing Bobbie Egan . Unfortunately, Huff wasn't interested in a factual examination of the problem report. All she could do was express her "disgust" at my "aims" and encourage Bobbie to discredit me. My only aim is that we have elections which are fair, honest, accurate, lawful and transparent. I don't think that Huff really considers election integrity to be disgusting, so why would she express disgust if not to shield herself from criticism and accountability? It's unfortunate, if not entirely surprising, that Ron Sims' choice for election director is someone who is more interested in delegitimizing the citizens who care enough to report errors than in fixing the errors.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at May 08, 2007 11:46 AM | Email ThisAnother great service brought to you by Olympia government.
Posted by: John Bailo on May 8, 2007 12:19 PMThe e-mails that you were given seem the department is pretty petty. Makes you go hmmmm when there are e-mails they won't give you.
Posted by: swatter on May 8, 2007 01:27 PMThe left is incapable of doing what is morally right just because it is right. To them it is all relative. And so broken elections and affirmative action racism persist, even though they are wrong and not leading to better results. Results that will ultimately hurt everyone equally.
It is telling that Huff automatically assumes that Sound Politics has ill intent. Stefan has it right. What is wrong with making sure that elections are conducted properly and accountably? Especially when it can be factually demonstrated that this did not happen in the extremely close November 2004 gubernatorial race.
It's amusing and telling that the Left would be so worried about the appearances of misconduct and incompetence as to vilify and ignore any attempt to right past mistakes.
And this is the party that claims the moral high ground.
Posted by: Jeff B. on May 8, 2007 03:42 PMSome might ask, why was Logan driven out if only to get his mentor in his place?
I wonder... if we could see Huff's and Logan's cell phones today, would we see regular calls in each others Call History?
Posted by: MJC on May 8, 2007 04:14 PMI don't like Huff's emails. I would prefer if she said "Stefan has identified enough real problems that we should seriously investigate any concern he raises, even though we disagree with some of his facts, opinions on the extent of the problem, assessment of our motives, proposed solutions, willingness to tradeoff many legal votes for a few illegal ones, and attitude." Or at least something not inconsistent with that.
Egan's email is a little better -- saying her job is to "be ready" for accusations -- especially since she stands in contrast to Huff, and her job is just communicating, not solving problems.
Perhaps their tone is understandable in light of all the wrong and nasty things that Stefan has written. But I hold government employees, especially those in positions as sensitive as KCE, to a higher standard. They can dislike Stefan but still must take his valid points seriously. That is what makes someone a professional rather than a political hack. If they are mere political hacks, then Stefan's right and we should elect the director.
Based on these emails, I think the council should make Huff convince them that she sincerely intends to address all imperfections in the voting process, regardless of how they come to attention.
Posted by: Bruce on May 8, 2007 04:55 PMHuff really has started off here on the wrong foot. I gave her the benefit of the doubt that her motives are pure & non-political. Already she is raising my eyebrow.
I am more concerned that she only produced 2 e-mails in response to Stefan's Public Records Request. It's hard to imagine that is the sum total of what she sent & received...especially in her previous position. And even if it is only 2, that also concerns me because she ought to be documenting her interactions with staff, elected officials & others.
I hope Stefan pursues Huff's specific e-mails further....going around her to the IT Department. We ought to ALL desire to feel comfortable with Ms. Huff's actions and her office, above all other's, ought to be transparent and completely void of any politics.
Let's see what kind of person she is.
If she cannot respond to a straightforward records request fully & accurately, I would have little faith in her Election Dept. skills.
"Perhaps their tone is understandable in light of all the wrong and nasty things that Stefan has written."
In my opinion, the only accurate info I see comes from Stefan and Sound Politics.
Posted by: Pagar on May 8, 2007 06:21 PMProposition No. 2 changes the composition of the Monorail Authority to a majority-elected board this year with 5 available positions to be placed on the ballot.
If you thought the SMP was finished, you were simply mislead.
Now they're trying to stop the installation of new management and why?
Because they managed the project all along to fail, and this will disrupt that effort.
King County Elections says: We don't care how you voted, we're not going to provide for that election.
Apparently, now if they don't like the way the votes go, they can just chuck 'em.
I hope you see the distinction.
Posted by: swatter on May 9, 2007 07:10 AM