GOP demands new election as disputed votes emerge

The Washington Times ^ | 1-08-05 | Valerie Richardson

[Seattle Conservative]

Washington state Republicans yesterday filed a lawsuit calling for a revote in the tight 2004 gubernatorial contest that saw Democrat Christine Gregoire top Republican Dino Rossi after two recounts by 129 votes. "Most Washingtonians don't believe this has been a valid election," said Mr. Rossi, who filed the Election Contest Petition along with the state Republican Party in Chelan County Superior Court. "They want a revote to make sure our state has a legitimate governor," he said. "We've gathered strong evidence that shows many of the votes in this election were improperly cast. I believe a revote is the only good solution."

//snip

The postelection fracas, complete with the specter of voters rising from the grave, has stunned those who associate such Election Day shenanigans with the machine-style politics of old Chicago, not a good-government state like Washington.

//snip

Another discrepancy lies in the King County vote total, where about 3,500 more votes were cast than there are registered voters. Election officials had pared the number down to 1,200 yesterday after reviewing registration documents, but Republicans noted that the figure was still high enough to reverse the outcome.

"[Mrs. Gregoire] wants to sweep us under the carpet and hold on to what she's got," said Miss Lane. "The fact is, there are many more improperly cast ballots than her margin of victory."

Mrs. Gregoire is scheduled to be certified by the Democratic-majority Legislature Wednesday, although Republican legislators plan to push to have her inauguration postponed until the legal challenge is decided.

[marktwain]

But I think my country is better than the US, logically I prefer my own country. Although I think on some areas there are even better countries.

It is common for all to prefer their native land. I am glad that you find satisfaction in your home, as do most people here in the U.S.A.

Thank you for your participation in Freerepublic. We always like to here from our friends in other countries.

[marktwain]

Oops. here = hear.

[TexasCajun]

The Washington Republicans should call upon Senator Babs Boxer to support their call for fair a election just as she did on the Senate floor on Thursday!

[Slyfox]

Why do you US people not have a central registration of voters? We in Holland never had these kind of problems.

Voter fraud is the problem here. Massive federal registration would create a problem even worse. Our elections procedures would, if nationalized, would give us the same outcome as the mail system or the education system. Not a good prospect for a republic such as ours.

[4woodenboats]

Those were some outstanding replies to Dutch View's questions. Yesterday a group of Democrats took it upon themselves to emabarrass our nation by challenging the certification of the federal election even though they knew they couldn't challenge the outcome. One by one, they struted infront of the camera, declaring their intent was to use this 'venue' as a forum to bring about change to the heinous crimes bestowed upon the voters, especially minorities, crimes such as having to vote on the same day and having men in suits intimidate them by asking for ID. Their leader in the Senate actually stated that many minorities did not vote because Republicans called them up and told them that the date had changed, and they were supposed to vote the next day.

We're dealing with a party that has enthusiasticly thrown all their principles overboard. They have fought, circumvented or just plain ignored every rule in the book, and in Washington State are belligerently flaunting it.

[cake_crumb]

"Simply because all people are centrally registered and thus can only vote once only in the area they live in. And with the voting computers the votes are quickly counted."

You have no system for absentee voters? The question of a central registration is one many Americans have been asking for years and have not gotten a valid answer to, though.

[Seattle Conservative]

"The Washington Republicans should call upon Senator Babs Boxer to support their call for fair a election just as she did on the Senate floor on Thursday!"

Oh yes, I'm sure she would shed some more tears for our voters. While we're at it, why don't we call on Jesse and Maxine Waters - - I'm sure they'd love to do speeches about all the 'disenfranchised voters' here! /s

On second thought, they probably wouldn't, since most of those who were disenfranchised were the military voting absentee from Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.

[pepperdog]

Because it would be very hard to cheat if we did it your way. I don't mean to sound sarcastic, but I do believe that is why our voting laws are so lax. Also I might point out that until recently most people in the US had fairly high moral standards which kept them from cheating. Seems times have changed though.

[hermgem]

Democrats need to send election experts up to Washington.
A Reverend, a Vietnam war hero, and Senator Barbara can provide sufficient cloud to legitimize what turns out to be election fraud.
After all, two lost counts, but the third count turning out as the one sufficient for certification.
Now it's hold on to what they got.
Experts on board.

[Slyfox]

This is really good news. All this voter fraud stuff had it's roots in the congressional elections in the 90's where there was verifiable fraud and the Republicans did nothing. We ended up with the Algore fiasco in 2000.

We need to stop it at the state level. Let's just call it practice for Hillary 2008.

[cake_crumb]

"Primarily because the United States is an association of individual States who have their own governments and constitutions. "

Speaking of the Constitution, Je$$e Jack$on Jr introduced a bill to the House that will evffectively sideline the EC in favor of automatic runoff votes by process of elimination.

[skimbell]

I didn't say that absentee voting should be stopped. There is a legitimate need for absentee voting but the states that have gone beyond absentee voting into areas of "voting anywhere in your state" or "voting up to a week early" have made it virtually impossible to prevent fraud.

The act of voting shouldn't be so difficult so as to diminish the expression of the popular feeling but it should be difficult enough to prevent the blatently fraudulent circuses that were seeing around the country.

I also think that if someone is caught illegally voting, that person should have their voting priveleges stripped and they should do some serious time in the slammer.

[Slyfox]

'Unfortunately, voting in your country is going to become problematic. Why? The muslim birth rate. It is a ticking time bomb.'

That was someone else's quote. I didn't say anything about Muslims.

I am a precinct chairman in Dallas county Texas. I am a Republican. I run a tight election. We Republican chairs generally have no problems because we follow the book and are honest. In Florida, all those 'chad problems' happened in democrat precincts. Having the feds step in would do nothing to resolve the democrat's dishonesty and it would shift the responsibility from my back to the federal government which in turn would be a huge incentive for me to not be as active as I am.

US elections need to be and are regulated by state legislatures and not the federal government.

[varon]

What we need is a simple:

Register to vote.

Provide picture identification as well as proof of residency in order to register

Vote only where registered and only on election day.

I would suggest adding the following:

Provide proof of citizenship

[cake_crumb]

Loved Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee babbling about being a slave and demanding the right to vote and Sen. Babs saying she was inspired by Michael Moore...on the other hand, I've always advocated the idea of central registration within each state; appearing in person to register, proof of citizenship and photo ID required, of course.

And get rid of so-called provisional ballots. We have this law enforcement code which states that ignorance of the law is no excuse. Being too lazy to register, developing an inability to figure out how to read the slip of paper telling you where your voting district is or being too dumb to call and ASK should be no excuse for screwing up the works by voting in the wrong disrrict, unregistered, etc.

[Parmy]

The United States is a democratic REPUBLIC. The Federal Government doesn't have total control. Part of the system of 'checks and balances' is that in the Constitution the States are given the power to run themselves and have a certain level of self-determination.

For instance, when Texas came into the confederation as a state, it retained the right to be its own sovereign nation. Most of the other states, other than the original thirteen colonyies were Federal territories, first.

I would suggest you acquire a copy of our Constitution and read it so that you may have a better understanding of the U.S. One thing most of the Founders did not want was a a strong central government that would be all-controlling.

[cake_crumb]

"We have one, you can go to a government office with your voting card and your passport and you will get a special card that makes it possible to vote in another voting office. (passport as identification)"

Hmmm. Good idea. Similar to the idea of bringing the ballot boxes to our military when they're stationed overseas rather than having a few tens of thousands disenfranchised as they were in 2000.

As for having ballot boxes for all American civilians in every embassy in every country, that would raise serious security problems. You mentioned yourself the fascination - to put it mildly - that people from other countries have in US elections.

[snowman1]

You are on track with the EU to try to emulate what we already have here. But ask yourself who will control the EU, so far all I've seen is France and Germany telling the rest of you how it's going to be. We may not be perfect but we're better than the rest. Our system hasn't nearly the corruption of some of the EU states.