Operation: Red Washington

http://www.timothygoddard.com/blog/ ^ | November 19th, 2004 | Alessandro Fiaschi

[alessandrofiaschi]

Operation: Red Washington

While the national Republican Party is enjoying a run of success it hasn’t seen in 75 years, here in Washington State, the picture is less rosy. Despite winning a couple of high profile races, including (hopefully) the come-from-behind victory of Dino Rossi, the Washington State GOP remains sclerotic. We lost control of the state Senate. Our US Senate candidate lost by 12 points. Each of our six losing candidates for US Congress lost by at least 20 points, as did two of our statewide candidates. And, perhaps most disturbing of all, from the state legislature on up, we did not defeat a single incumbent. But while our defeats were many, they were not inevitable. The solid victories of Rob McKenna, Sam Reed and Doug Sutherland prove that, as does the narrow victory (or even defeat) of Dino Rossi. We can win, but we aren’t. But we can. Operation: Red Washington will begin merely as a series of posts on what I think the Washington State Republican Party needs to do, and how it needs to change, in order for that to happen. I’d love to see it grow into more than that, but for now all I want to do is air my ideas to any who will listen, and invite a dialogue. I honestly believe that the Washington State GOP has the potential to conservatives, moderates–and even a few liberals–with a path towards better government and a better state. We live in a great, great state. It deserves a great Republican Party. Operation: Red Washington is my little way of trying to make that happen. (Operation: Red Washington is also an excuse to make a really cool, though vaguely Soviet-looking logo. I’m pretty pleased with it, personally. It’s also an opportunity to revel in the irony that “red” now means Republican.)

[alessandrofiaschi]

In the meanwhile, Republicans raised concerns over the storage of blank ballots in King County (WA):

< http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/200466_ballots20.html?source=rss >

Saturday, November 20, 2004 GOP worries about ballot security By CHRISTINE FREY SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER On the eve of the governor's election recount, state Republicans raised concerns over the storage of blank ballots in King County, but the local elections director said they are secure. Republicans sent a letter to King County elections director Dean Logan yesterday asking that election workers count and seal unmarked ballots and only open them in view of observers. Unmarked ballots are kept in the same location as the marked ballots in case a marked ballot is damaged or it cannot be read by vote-counting machines and a new ballot needs to be cast in its place. State GOP Chairman Chris Vance said at a news conference last night that Republicans were concerned that the blank ballots could be tampered with. "It's obviously a dangerous situation," he said. Republican Dino Rossi was declared governor-elect Wednesday, winning the election by 261 votes. A recount begins today because less than 2,000 votes separate Rossi from Democrat Christine Gregoire. Logan said last night that it would not be possible for someone to tamper with the blank ballots and mix them with votes already cast. Marked ballots are kept inside sealed containers, he said. All of the ballots are kept in a gated area that is secured with a padlock. Ten to 15 people have access to the area, which will be guarded by uniformed deputies, he said. Logan also noted that the Republicans would have observers present to watch the machine recount. "This is the most secure place" for the blank ballots to be, he said. There are just under 900,000 ballots to be recounted in King County, Logan said. It's unclear how many unmarked ballots there are. In response to the Republicans, state Democratic Party Chairman Paul Berendt said in a statement: "If Chairman Vance is really concerned about the potential of fraud, he should go ahead and ask for the manual recount now, or call on the secretary of state to order one." Statewide, 82 percent of registered voters cast ballots in the general election, the secretary of state said yesterday.

[crazyhorse691]

I am across the river in Oregon and I was cheering Nethercutt against Osama Murray. Longshot at best but I was cheering.

[F.J. Mitchell]

THe look on Berger's face seems to indicate that he is always smuggling something between his buns.

Don't worry, it's only a matter of time til Washington state turns red. Good news for the blues is they can quickly scurry into Canada.

[YOKUM]

I have a couple of questions. Are they only re-counting King county ballots? If so why? I live on the East side of WA. Most people over hear sre sick and tired of our whole state being controlled by a few counties on the other side of the mountains. They don't give a s--t about the dams even tho' their salmon industry will go down the tubes if the the dams are destroyed. The silt behind the dams would kill evey fish in the river not just the salmon. It seems they have no foresite. Agriculture over here will cease. We'll be a dust bowl again. Wonder how much they'll be willing pay for a loaf of bread or an apple! Not to mention their light bill! What is wrong with these people?

[murdocj]

My smarter brother has put together a new spreadsheet to track the recount. Like the original, this one will tabulate results as they come in an project the final tally based upon county-by-county percentages. It updates automatically every ten minutes. In addition, it will show the change in the total between the original count and this recount.

Download the new spreadsheet at http://www.murdoconline.net/archives/001745.html

The original version went over real well with Freepers and a lot of others across the internet. I hope everyone enjoys this one just as much.

[alessandrofiaschi]

No, they will count all the ballots in the State, but we don't know how (instead we know...)! Besides, there is not a unique system of vote in WA and there is no law, as we have seen with King County's provisional ballots story! The risk of frauds is very high for us. I can't bear Seattle Demonrats.

[George W. Bush]

Good luck with what seems a promising and interesting state-oriented site.



All your Washington are belong to us!

[YOKUM]

I can't stand the people they're stuck up smart asses. They call me a 'drylander. They should look in their own backyard, Their industries have turned the trees brown. I hate going there. It sure doesn't look like the same fairy tale, forested land we used to drive thru' when I was kid.

[Route101]

It's a start... to change the blue borders of our country to red....drive the blues into the sea on both coasts!!!...maybe they could all move to Cuba or Canada...just get the hell out of Dodge because we are protecting this country with red!....

[Jack Black]

Meanwhile the Blue Team is pulling off a come from behind vote-fraud victory for the Donkey candidate for Gov. I saw them "enhancing" ballots in King County. In other words if there is not clear mark on the ballot the election officials "devine" the will of the voter and color in the Donkey box.

This race is over. Ties go to Democrats.

[Malcolm]

If Rossi loses this seat, blame the Libertarian Party just as much as you do the Dems. They cost Slade Gorton his seat in 2000. They pass themselves off as the 'true conservative" alternative. Funny...when they run, the least conservative candidate, (the untraleftist Dem), always wins the seat. They haven't got a chance to win, only a chance to spoil an election. "Fool me once, shame on you..." Either you're part of the solution, or you're part of the problem; if you're voting LP, you sure as hell aren't part of the solution...

[Malcolm]

They most certainly do when you have the ignorant LP voter helping that along...