Problems in 2005 Election already evident (Seattle corruption)

Evergreen Freedom Foundation ^ | 11/08/2005 | Booker T. Stallworth

[sionnsar]

OLYMPIA—Less than four hours after the polls opened today, the Evergreen Freedom Foundation (EFF) identified several problems in the 2005 general election.

“We still see a basic disregard for the law and a lack of accountability by election officials,” said Jonathan Bechtle, director of EFF’s Voter Integrity Project.

Among the problems Bechtle identified:

• Absentee ballots in King County are being unlawfully forwarded by the post office, because ballots do not include warnings against forwarding, as required by law. This also occurred in the primary, was brought to King County elections chief Dean Logan’s attention, and yet has happened again today.
  
  

• Absentee ballots in King County are not being accounted for properly. Ballots were lost in the 2004 general election, in the 2005 primary, and again today.
  
  

• The voting rolls still list scores of illegal voters, including the dead, duplicates registrants, felons (who have not had their voting rights restored), and non-citizens. The Republican Party found 6,000 double voters with a simple search; many more remain. Also, the Secretary of State still has no way to verify citizenship. All of these people have an opportunity to vote today.
  
  

• Double votes will again be counted, as the voter crediting process was not standardized by the Secretary of State. This occurred in the primary and will undoubtedly take place again today.
  
  

• Ballots with mismatched signatures will be counted. Signature-matching procedures remain inconsistent between the counties; the criteria for matching signatures is flawed.

“The one consistency we’ve seen is a lack of leadership on the part of election officials,” said Bechtle. “They blame all the problems on the process, the voter, or unwieldy laws. Secretary of State Reed and other officials are quick to assure the public that all is well; but refuse to take the necessary steps to make sure that’s true.”

Bechtle warned that the problems identified by EFF today are just the “tip of the iceberg.”

“Additional errors resulting from these problems will surface in the coming weeks of tabulation and certification,” Bechtle said. “The day after the primary election, Secretary Reed announced that no major problems had occurred. As in the 2004 election, however, the problems quickly became evident later in the process.”

EFF encourages concerned citizens to contact their local county auditor or political party for information on how to observe the tabulation process. More information is available at EFF’s Election Observer Resource Center (www.effwa.org/vip).

“Since election officials seem more inclined to gloss over and ignore the issues, citizen observers are crucial,” said Bechtle. “They must fill the leadership gap in cleaning up our election system.”

The Evergreen Freedom Foundation’s Voter Integrity Project has been monitoring election practices and reform efforts since the 2004 election debacle, and has released a number of reports on how to fix the system. The project’s director, Jonathan Bechtle, will be available throughout Election Day for comment.

[sionnsar]

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[Petronski]

[Clemenza]

Here we go again!

[sionnsar]

LOL! Did you know that the Farsi word "barf" means "snow"?

[wvobiwan]

If it's happening in King County, it's happening in every liberal Democrat bastion. They all work from the same DNC playbook since Clintoon.

[ezo4]

great! king county really sucks.

[timydnuc]

Ladies and Gentleman this is NOT errors, nor is it accidents, nor is it under staffing and pressure. This is organized RICO fraud. It happens again, and again, and again. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on the good people of Washington State. You people MUST do something about this. Your vote will never count as long as this goes on.

[bmwcyle]

They won't learn.

[wyattearp]

Absentee ballots are again a mess, but my polling place was efficient. They asked for my voter registration card and ID. My driver's license had my old address on it, so he asked me questions about the building I was registered in. I brought along a power bill as a just-in-case, but he was satisfied with my answers. At this polling place, at least, they are being very cautious (downtown Seattle).

[Vicki]

Seems it's business as usual. By the way, Pierce County forwarded my husband's and my ballot to our new address. So this is illegal?

[burzum]

You people MUST do something about this. Your vote will never count as long as this goes on.

The liberals own the government, the courts, and the media. We can't change the government because our votes don't count. When we challenge it in a court, it gets thrown out. And noone ever knows about it because the media remains quiet. It's a catch-21. There have been people who have worked extremely hard to bring these problems to the attention of the people, but so far it has been ineffective. To say it is an uphill battle is an understatement. For example, the King County GOP challenged the fraudulent registrations of 2000 voters a couple of weeks ago. It appears that about 60 of them were wrong (though many of them are questionable) and the GOP made a minor error. So what do the papers talk about? Certainly not that there were at least 1940 fraudulent voters. No. They talk about how the GOP wants to stop people from voting.

[Do not dub me shapka broham]

Of course we want to stop people from voting.

We want to stop corpses, illegal aliens and convicted felons from voting.

That cuts into the Dem. constituency though, so there's bound to be conflict.

^__^

[mtbopfuyn]

Secretary of State still has no way to verify citizenship. All of these people have an opportunity to vote today.

How did El Presidente Fox vote today?

[decal]

Too bad ol' Andy Stephenson's "dead" - HE'D get to the bottom of this...so to speak.

[MooseMan]

Can you believe that we in WA had a proposal to go to all-absentee voting??
Are you freakin' kidding me??
Let's take the biggest part of the fiasco and make everyone participate.
What a bunch of morons!!

Watch out for tornadoes spawned from the enormous sucking of King County.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

We have done something about it, short of armed revolt.

They control all the necessary authorities that oversee elections, even the bench, which sided with Gregoire, the vote-stealer-in-chief.

Don't blame us. The Leftists in King County have enough people , both honest and corrupt, to control the situation. We do what we can.

I'll be glad to leave this hell hole next year. And I'll laugh and open some champagne when Seattle slips down on a par with Tacoma in about 3 years.

[timydnuc]

I understand your frustration my friend. I'm a conservative West Texan that lives in Minnesota. Keep fighting and do all the little things that help. Talk to your neighbors, get things organized and keep doing what it takes. You have so many Kalifornia infiltrators up there that the fight has to be taken to King County. I realize the frustration. I went from West Texas to Baton Rouge Louisiana. In the 6 years I was there I helped change things. We elected the first Republican Governor since reconstruction (Mike Foster). I worked with Republican committees that could meet in a phone booth, but we got it done. I came to Minnesota and I worked for Norm Coleman, he's not the most conservative man I've ever known but he is a Republican. I talked and worked, just like I did in West Texas, and southern Louisiana and I searched out good Republicans and I got Norm Coleman and Tim Palenty (Gov) elected, because I talked my politics with pride and logic. You do the same.

I live in a small suburb of St. Paul MN, and I plan to run for the city council. We have way too many conservatives in this little town to let the socialists take over. The school board is half and half we get a school tax referendum every other year. The City Council can stop that but they are either too scared (an affliction that only seems to effect Republicans) or too liberal. I plan to take the high road of conservative politics and stop this theft of our property taxes.

Get pissed and run for something. County Clerk would be a start!

[Doug Loss]

Article IV., Section 4 of the US Constitution states in part, "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government..." Sounds like it's about time to call the Feds in to oversee the elections in Washington. This clearly isn't a republican form of government.

[wyattearp]

I think that absentee voting should be outlawed. No exceptions. If somebody doesn't consider voting to be important enough to be in town on that day and go to the polls, then the citizens of this state don't want their stinking vote anyways.