I recorded an interview earlier, to be broadcast on TVW tonight at this hour(7pm). Jerry Cornfield of the Everett Herald is hosting "TVW Election Tuesdays", and had State Elections Director Nixon "Nick" Handy and myself on for a segment to discuss the topic "what's been done since the problems in 2004, is it enough, can voters feel good about 2008".
Here are links to some documents discussed in the segment.
The Secretary of State's "Washington State's Vote-by-Mail Experience" (Oct. 2007), which among other things, claims [p.14] that
Contrary to allegations made by opponents to vote-by-mail, there have been no substantiated reports of voter coercion, such as ... a corrupt nursing home employee.Here is a substantiated report of just such an incident and the e-mail I sent to Nick Handy over 3 years ago informing him of same. (He never followed up).
The same page of Handy's "Vote-by-Mail Experience" document claims, laughably, that "none [of the problems in the 2004 election] were directly linked to voting by mail."
And recall when King County counted hundreds more votes than voters in 2004 (several times the margin of so-called victory in the governor's race). Here's a reminder from the contest trial of how Handy orchestrated a disinformation campaign to convince the public and the trial court that the discrepancy between votes and voters was irrelevant and that Republican concerns about this were "completely unfounded".
Here is a summary of the actual evidence that King County really did count hundreds more votes than voters (Many of these illegally counted ballots were directly linked to vote-by-mail). Sadly, Handy's disinformation campaign helped give King County cover to conceal this evidence from the trial court. Some volunteers and I discovered the evidence only months after the trial had ended. To this day, Handy (and by extension, his boss, Sam Reed) stubbornly refuse to admit that there's anything to look at. (In the interview Handy insisted that the contest trial judge rejected this evidence as insignificant, when the judge obviously hadn't seen any of it, since King County failed to disclose it until after the trial).
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at October 14, 2008 07:00 PM | Email ThisNow, in 2008, we see just how much damage ACORN alone has done to this process. This was going on in 2004, as well. I personally witnessed an ACORN employee bring in 24" stacks of voter registration forms TWO DAYS IN A ROW. There is simply no way that one person could have obtained that many registrations in 24 hours, even with the help of others (he said he'd gotten them all himself). I knew then, and I know now, how corrupt and evil ACORN is when it comes to the integrity of our voting system. Kudos to Stefan for spending half a decade on this issue.
Posted by: Doug Timpe on October 14, 2008 06:52 PMConservative bogeymen, nothing more. Perfect target, too! Folks trying to get out the vote in low-income minority communities are the natural enemy of the Republican Party.
Posted by: demo kid on October 14, 2008 07:01 PMSo you think that poor guy in ohio who registered to vote (via acorn) 76 TIMES can vote 76 Times.....
Way to go Demo, your name represents your vote !!
Posted by: Chris N on October 14, 2008 07:13 PMNo... which is why it is NOT BALLOT FRAUD.
Posted by: demo kid on October 14, 2008 07:21 PMYour belief in this instance is besides the point. Belief doesn't change the facts, which are available in the public record.
You may think that the intensity with which you believe or feel something is an indication of its truth.
That's a common error among young people.
Both sides have their passionate activists. To think that this will have an appreciable impact on the national election is unproven and foolish, though. You're drawing out hypotheticals and circumstantial evidence far beyond reason.
Now, if you're willing to have a frank discussion of how to reform voting across the board, I'm all ears. There are a number of issues that should be addressed to ensure that everyone is allowed the opportunity to vote. Heck, our whole election system is due for an overhaul.
To focus on one minor aspect of it though (and yes, it's minor) is just moaning and complaining about the way that the election is turning out. I'm not really seeing very much criticism on the right for the tactics used for voter suppression, for example, and until I do, this simply smacks of rabid partisanship.
Now answer this question: did Republicans widely question the use of voting machines four years ago?
Posted by: demo kid on October 14, 2008 07:36 PMI'm not sure if I'd categorize that as hopelessly naive or willfully ignorant.
Conservatives = rugged individualism
Liberals = Learned helplessness
I wonder which one of these two attributes our founding fathers embodied...
What Republicans did or did not do 4 years ago is totally irrelevant to today. It provides no defense, no reasoning, no nothing.
ACORN is engaging in systematic voter fraud. That you don't think so is as meaningless as what you leftists "think" about the issue of the morning after pill and pharmacists exercising their right not to dispense it.
No nation-wide, well-financed, criminal enterprise designed to get that empty suited, anti-American racist bigot or anyone else elected is "minor." That you believe it to be so is a result of that typical left-wing hypocrisy, so prevalent in your ilk.
If this was a right wing effort, you and the rest of your kind would be pissing all over yourselves, much like the rank hypocrisy your kind exhibited over Mark Folley last cycle.
But it isn't. And the situational ethics your kind show preclude any playground BS like "did Republicans widely question the use of voting machines four years ago?"
Posted by: Hinton on October 14, 2008 07:57 PMHe has done nothing to reduce the illegal alien vote; nothing to increase voter identification requirements, and nothing to improve screening out convicted felons.
In short, he's done nothing to secure the most important element of the entire voting system... voting security that matters.
And now, he does his own version of Queen Chrissy, the Tribal Ho, by delusionally claiming something that isn't true... in her case, that we don't have a massive, gaping deficit; in his case, that "there have been no substantiated reports of voter coercion, such as ... a corrupt nursing home employee," or that "none [of the problems in the 2004 election] were directly linked to voting by mail."
He isn't fit to hold office. Ever.
Posted by: Hinton on October 14, 2008 08:07 PMMake no waves, don't hurt any other state, county, city bureaucrat's feelings, just get along......
Posted by: Norm on October 14, 2008 08:57 PMOctober 20-21 is the trial date in Jefferson County of a Democrat Activist named Todd McGuire, accused of illegal voting and perjury.
Watch this case.
How about the stack of registrations ACORN brought in to some other county elsewhere in the country: The officials said they stopped checking after 2100 (2100!) because every single one of the 2100 was obviously bogus. think, dk, think!
Posted by: Michele on October 14, 2008 11:04 PM1%?
5%?
12%? ... which just happens to be the percentage of those mushy, dithering undecideds
Oh wait, I know!
Whatever the percent that will swing the election to his guy, yet not be too noticeable!
Commie-kid is convinced that ACORN voter registration fraud has absolutely nothing to do with election fraud.
In light of his certainty, I have given him a challenge.
I am so relieved that commie-kid is just absolutely sure that the ACORN "irregularities" will NOT result in election fraud.
I am confident that with his absolute certainty he will stand shoulder to shoulder with you and me in calling upon the Secretary's of State in Missouri, Colorado, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Nevada North Carolina, Washington, Connecticut, Wisconsin and Florida NOT open any absentee ballots and NOT to certify their election results until the FBI has thoroughly investigated the "irregularities" and cleansed their voting rolls if any were found.
After all, when a commie-kid is certain, surely he'll put his election results where his big mouth is. Right?
SHOCKINGLY, commie-kid has ignored my challenge!
Please, do your best to encourage him to join us... or shame the hell out of him for his cowardice and duplicity!
Maybe Bush should just suspend the election (or the results) until all the registration fraud has been cleaned from the filth of ACORN.
What do you think commie kid? Should the country as a whole err on the side of caution to preserve the integrity of YOUR vote?
Posted by: RagnarDanneskjold on October 14, 2008 11:04 PM*Require proof of citizenship at the polls and a photo copy of proof of citizenship with each mail ballot.
*No provisional ballots allowed. If you want to vote, register 30 days in advance and arrive on time at the polls.
*Dye each voter's left and right index finger with ultraviolet dye at the polls after voting. Have a UV lamp next to the voter signature book at the polls.
Problem solved.
Even Disneyland requires that you show your ultraviolet stamp to get back in if you leave the park.
If a voter does not care enough to take some simple actions in advance of voting, then they can't blather on about how precious they hold their right to vote.
Exit Question: Do Democrats leave their doors unlocked?
Posted by: Jeff B. on October 15, 2008 12:09 AMIt's very relevant. What it says is that voter suppression and scaremongering is the only tactic that Republicans have left, and they don't care about it unless they have something to lose. Again, if there was consistent talk about both ensuring voting rights and preserving the integrity of the process, I'd be all ears. This is just political opportunism.
So, is intentional, methodical registration fraud a real issue in the federal election as many seem to suggest?
According to Stefan's own stats, there were 478 documented votes that were accepted in King County that should not have been accepted, out of 876,000+ cast. That's about 0.06% of the total. Even if we assume for the sake of argument that ALL of these were filed with malicious intent by an evil conspiracy, and that the entire state was influenced by that same evil conspiracy, it would have to be the dumbest strategy to try to control the results of an election, pretty much in the history of elections. The resources and energy required both to register fraudulent voters AND cast fraudulent votes at the scale required to influence the results in a major swing state would be incredibly prohibitive.
In terms of the requirements for citizenship @8, I don't think that you would have any real objections that only citizens should be allowed to vote. But what really is the best way to prove that? Do you want a birth certificate? A passport? A social security card? What proof would you think would be the most appropriate? And if someone doesn't have it, should they be stripped of their right to vote?
But what of the local, homegrown cases of voter and registration fraud? Doesn't that suggest an evil conspiracy?
What was noted @14 was the case of Todd McGuire, a fellow that was charged with signing his wife's absentee ballot. Serious? Yes. Voter fraud on a massive scale? I'd REALLY like to hear an explanation of how you'd fit it into that category, please.
The cases with the Washington ACORN volunteers convicted of fraud was one of pure laziness:
One defendant "said it was hard work making up all those cards," and another "said he would often sit at home, smoke marijuana and fill out cards," according to a probable-cause statement written by King County sheriff's Detective Christopher Johnson.
Evil conspiracy? Hmmm... probably not.
And what of the nursing home? The poor seniors that are having their absentee ballots appropriated by their caregivers?
Sure, it's a problem. Heck, it's good to have private citizens checking up on such things and keeping public officials honest. But unless you can give some specific proof that they were receiving their marching orders from some shadowy figure, I have a hard time believing that this: a.) would have a considerable impact on the race, b.) wouldn't be done by both Democrats and Republicans, and c.) would be intentionally coordinated by one (or both) political parties. Speculate all you want, but paranoid conspiracy theories don't cut it when simpler explanations are true.
Posted by: demo kid on October 15, 2008 12:18 AMHow funny where he brings up what Shark found and that wasn't even with hard checking. I wonder just how deep this problem really runs.
Don't forget, they did their best to stop him as much as they could.
Then to say a few people working for Acorn did this is a huge laugh. What 13 states now.
One or two maybe... Yet it keeps happening and happening to only one group (ACORN)
Posted by: Army Medic/Vet on October 15, 2008 06:37 AMWhy don't you prove that there is substantial, targeted ballot fraud first? There hasn't been anything of the sort here. These irregularities can't even pass current checks by the state secretaries of state.
Thinking that you're going to lose because of a few bad voter registrations is foolish. You're nothing but a whiny little child, unwilling to face facts or take responsibility for a bad campaign and a failing party.
But hey... maybe you're willing to hold on to that cognitive dissonance for as long as possible. I mean, why would ANYONE want to vote Republicans out of office, right?
Posted by: demo kid on October 15, 2008 07:08 AMYou are an absolute hypocrite. Grow up!!
Republicans want every "legal" person to vote. Are you against that?
Posted by: swatter on October 15, 2008 08:08 AMDid you fail to read this part in the news story.
____________________________________
Satterberg called Mitchell "a ringleader." According to charging papers, he encouraged canvassers he supervised to forge registration forms to meet ACORN's quota of 18 to 20 registrations per canvasser per day at a time when the organization was threatening to shut down the Puget Sound voter drive for poor performance.
Mitchell allegedly told investigators that a staff member in the ACORN national office promised him a $25,000-a-year job with benefits "if he got the numbers up."
_________________________________________________
They promised this guy money
(he was their SUP)
So the pressure was to cheat!
KIRAN CHETRY: A group that claims it signed up more than a million new voters is now facing allegations that many forms may be fake. Drew Griffin from the Special Investigations Unit is in Philadelphia. He's looking at the facts for us this morning. Hi, Drew.
DREW GRIFFIN: Good morning, Kiran. You know, ever since the voter registration deadline ended for this November 4th election, I feel like I've been on a national tour looking at voter registration fraud across the country. In Philly, it's no different. And here in Philadelphia, they say it's the same group as everywhere else. The good news, there have been hundreds of thousands of new voter registrations processed in Philadelphia, including a vast majority of good, clean registrations from ACORN. The bad news, Philadelphia has already sent 1,500 obvious fraudulent registrations to the U.S. Attorney to be investigated. Every one of them from the same group, ACORN.
If we apply their same arguments used to white wash voter registration fraud efforts, the Democrats for ACORN would say, but hey, the vast majority of the melamine tainted milk and pet food is still feeding hungry kids and animals. Only a small percentage of them die due to poisoning, so it's no big deal.
We appreciate your interest in fair and impartial elections and the importance of ensuring that all counties are observing all requirements of state law.
Nick
Nick Handy
Director of Elections
Office of Secretary of State
State of Washington
____
Frankly, nothing in this reply allieviates my concerns regarding the upcoming election.
Posted by: Susan Murphy on October 15, 2008 09:37 AMHandy is a hard core Democrat, professional bureaucrat. He has bounced around among several agencies while gaining stature and power. I am not aware of what in his education or background qualifies him to be director of elections. Handy invariably puts himself and his party above sound state governance.
So long as Handy is around, don't expect any meaningful election reform or actions to insure fair and honest elections.
Posted by: Paddy on October 15, 2008 11:33 AMI might as well have been listening to SNL's Jack Handey "Deep thoughts" rather than Nick Handy for all the smoke being blown up our collective tailpipe.
Posted by: Rick D. on October 15, 2008 12:06 PMWhy don't you prove that there is substantial, targeted ballot fraud first? -Posted by demo kid at October 15, 2008 07:08 AM
Dear commie kid, you failed reading comprehension, didn't you?
I wonder if commie-kid has the courage to say how much registration fraud that might turn into voter fraud is too much?
Now I bet if you tried REALLY hard, you could find the operative word in that question. Since you are so clearly a product of the public school system I'll give you a hint: the operative word begins with the letter M and ends with the letter T.
Oh! And maybe while you're at it, you can explain how one "proves" results of an event that is yet to happen.
Nice try.
Now go back to imitating mizaru, kikazaru and iwazaru.
Posted by: RagnarDanneskjold on October 15, 2008 12:19 PMI haven't. Read the Helping America Vote Act, and tell me if that doesn't work for you. If it doesn't, how do we balance confirming people have the right to vote with making voting accessible?
@23: Brilliant. You proved that ACORN is a sloppy organization without oversight of how they reach their registration goals. Tell me how this feeds into "stealing the election" again? If anything, that would kinda point to the fact that ACORN is screwing over the Democrats by submitting voter registrations that won't result in actual votes.
@25: That has to be the DUMBEST comparison ever. Why don't we compare this to 1980 US Olympic Hockey, the Peloponnesian War, or the mating habits of geckoes? They'd have just about as much in common.
@29: It's an irrelevant question. I'll say it again: you haven't proved that there is systematic ballot fraud, or that other threats to voting rights wouldn't have more of an impact on results.
Posted by: demo kid on October 15, 2008 02:48 PMWell, perhaps you can tell me how you can use something that hasn't happened yet as proof...
Posted by: demo kid on October 15, 2008 02:52 PM"You used to have to provide as much identification to vote as you do to get a library card. Now in some jurisdictions you can show up with an old electricity or phone bill, not necessarily your own. In at least one state, voter "turnout" is an anachronism and you don't have to show up at all. Oregon has done away with polling places entirely. All voting there is by mail."
"Photo IDs are already required for a host of activities from applying for Social Security to getting food stamps and cashing checks at the bank."
Doesn't that voting by mail up in Oregon sound strangely familiar, Washingtonians?
By hook or by crook...I think it's evident which way the Democrat party has decided they'd like to win their elections.
@33: Ahhh... and IBD is a nonpartisan source, eh?
Again, NO PROOF. Republican bogeyman. How many times would you like me to say it?
Posted by: demo kid on October 16, 2008 06:54 AMJust keep sputtering the "Republican bogeyman" line and maybe one day, even you'll believe it.
Posted by: Rick D. on October 16, 2008 09:08 AMProve it. You're spouting off about voting fraud that hasn't been proved, and presenting a solution that is not meant to actually fix the problem. The ONLY thing that your proposal to require a birth certificate will do is to depress voter turnout. That's it. And it'll depress it in lower-income, traditionally Democratic areas where folks that don't have certified birth certificates aren't going to bother trying to get copies merely to vote.
Your proposal will merely disenfranchise people, and will do nothing to fix the problems you claim to want to fix. Voting suppression is no way to win an election, unless you're quite content with not living in a democracy.
Posted by: demo kid on October 16, 2008 11:51 PM