Oh boy, Here we go again:
More than a hundred Yakima county voters mistakenly get an extra ballot in the mail.But have no fear:
Elections officials explain why those extra ballots won't change the results of any race.Funny, that's exactly what King County said in October 2004:"Safeguards in place for voters who receive duplicate ballots". Again in January 2005 they reassured us that none of the voters who had received a duplicate ballot would have been allowed to have their votes counted twice. But you probably guessed the punchline: Several dozen people, up to a 1/3 of those who sent back duplicate ballots, really did have their votes counted twice.
...
Auditor Corky Mattingly wants those voters who received the extra ballot, to destroy them and toss them out.If they happen to use it, their processing machines will catch the additional vote.
Yeah, yeah. I know. That was 2004. Everything's been fixed since then!
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at October 28, 2008 11:58 PM | Email ThisThe peculiar nickname "Corky" is alleged to be taken from real life New Jersey mobster Gaetano Vastola whose nickname among the mafia ranks as a street soldier was "Corky".
Gaetano is also believed to have been the model for the fictional character in The Sopranos, Hesh Rabkin (played by actor Jerry Adler).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corky_Romano
The peculiar nickname "Corky" is alleged to be taken from real life New Jersey mobster Gaetano Vastola whose nickname among the mafia ranks as a street soldier was "Corky".
Gaetano is also believed to have been the model for the fictional character in The Sopranos, Hesh Rabkin (played by actor Jerry Adler).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corky_Romano
But in King Conty, the duplicate votes, I believe, were the result of duplicate REGISTRATIONS, and here, they are duplicate ballots under a SINGLE registration.
That doesn't mean that these votes won't be counted, but it's not the same problem. Indeed, if they WERE duplicate registrations here, the safeguard that Mattingly mentioned would do nothing to prevent duplicate votes.
Posted by: pudge on October 29, 2008 08:20 AMThere were a number of duplicate votes cast in King County because of duplicate registrations. HOWEVER, the specific incident that I am referring to in this post was one where King County sent duplicate ballots to many singly-registered voters. Many voters sent back both the ballots they had received, and contrary to all public assurance, many of the duplicate voters were both counted.
This was one partial explanation to the "more votes than voters" mystery
Posted by: Stefan Sharkansky on October 29, 2008 09:27 AMIn the case of duplicate ballots being sent to the same registered voter in King County, do you know what the current procedure is if multiple ballots are then submitted?
Is one counted, and others discarded? Are all submitted ballots invalidated?
Posted by: airfoil on October 29, 2008 11:38 AMIt says, "The original ballot that was issued is suspended in the system and only processed if the re-issued ballot is not received by certification of the election."
Does this mean that a "re-issued" ballot can be submitted at any time after election day - in other words, after most of the returns have come in, as long as it is *before* the official certification date?
If there are enough duplicate ballots out there, could person (or group) collect them, wait for the returns, and then submit "new" ballots that would then have precedence?
Posted by: airfoil on October 29, 2008 12:22 PM