King County Elections has been developing a plan to run the November 2008 election entirely by mail. This stems from a political decision by Executive Ron Sims and the state Democrats. They're apparently convinced that Mrs. Gregoire and fellow Democrats can't win in a properly run election, so they prefer the sloppiness and fudgability of a mail-only election, administered with brand new systems and processes. (Does that last part sound familiar?)
Jason "Zappini" Osgood, who's been doing yeoman's work assessing the vote-by-mail plan, reports on yesterday's County Council hearing on the plan: "Reckless Plan: Diebold Dazzles Democrats".
The Council staff posted its report on the plan yesterday here (more legislative documents here). The staff report echoes some of the questions that Osgood raised last month.
And to see the political connection, state Democrat chairman "Cuba" Dwight Pelz sent this letter to the Council yesterday urging them to adopt Sims' vote-by-mail plan.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at June 26, 2007 11:02 AM | Email ThisKing County, WA, 13 Days of Vote Counting, Seattle Special Election, 2007
Posted by: Gentry Lange on June 26, 2007 11:29 AMThanks for the link!
For those who are interested...
There's a WA Citizens for Fair Elections meeting tonight, 6:30pm at the University Heights Community Center. Room 110.
We'll be reviewing what happened in the last legislative session with respect to election reform. And then we'll cover the reckless plan to overhaul King County's election system.
Cheers, Jason Osgood
Posted by: zappini on June 26, 2007 11:51 AMAnd when all else fails, they just put forth a incompetence plea like that of Bill Huennekens in 2004. "We should not have counted those ballots."
When the music stops at the certification deadline, that's the only bar the Dems need to get past. Fraudulent or not, they will then count every ballot they have. And they'll delay King County as long as possible so they no the exact number of votes they need to target with respect to the other 38 counties.
Posted by: Jeff B. on June 26, 2007 12:03 PMOhhhh noooo. Anything but up-to-date methods!
We should do it like the Romans did - have everyone travel to the capital on election day, and give their vote vocally.
Posted by: Cho on June 26, 2007 06:03 PM'08 is going to be a fun elections year.
Posted by: Chris on June 26, 2007 09:31 PMThe San Diego Elections Task Force issued their final report on costs of Mail Only Elections:
http://www.sandiego.gov/electionstaskforce/pdf/reports/mail_ballot_followup.pdf
Election-options task force to call it quits
June 28, 2007
SAN DIEGO � An elections task force that was formed 17 months ago to increase voter turnout and make it easier to cast a ballot in San Diego will be disbanded after a City Council committee chose not to pursue instant runoff voting or mail-only balloting citywide�
.. would require a new voting system, give voters less time to know candidates and might be unmanageable for the county Registrar of Voters, which conducts city elections, or for any other election-service providers.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070628-9999-7m28task.html