Posted on 11/08/2005 2:29:45 PM PST by 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:
“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.
I have no idea why this group is actually protesting the way the votes in King County are going to be counted since it works so well for the criminals right now.
Yes, it is. There is supposed to be a huge stamp on the envelope that reads "DO NOT FORWARD, FORWARDING ADDRESS REQUESTED". An absentee ballot is supposed to be sent to the address of the voter, and absolutely nowhere else. If the voter has moved, the ballot is supposed to be returned to the elections department with the new address of the voter (if available).
This lets the elections department know that the voter should no longer be registered to vote in that district/precinct (assuming that the voter has actually moved out of that district/precinct). Forwarding the ballot allows the voter to vote in a precinct where they are not living, and should no longer be registered. It also makes it so that the elections department has no knowledge that the voter has moved.
Um... The Evergreen Freedom Foundation is a very conservative, privately funded organization whose stated purpose is to root out fraud and waste in government. They have lead a lot of battles against voting fraud in Washington State, they have taken on the teachers unions, the Attorney General's office, etc. EFF are the good guys. I know some of the people that work there. They're the good guys.
You've got that right. The King County GOP has a long range plan that was started in 2002 to fix the elections. They know the difficulty in the battle and they almost won it in 2004 (with Dino Rossi). This year the focus is on ousting our corrupt county executive and his crony elections officer. To be honest, I don't think we will win it this year (even though David Irons is an awesome candidate). But the momentum is growing and it is likely that we will have a ballot measure next year to elect the county elections officer (a measure proposed by David Irons). If the King County GOP keeps its act together, we may see a drastic shift in Washington politics and elections in 10 years.
But it bears repeating, the people in Washington are slightly left leaning. I doubt the GOP will be able to change that for a long time, if ever. That doesn't mean that we need the far left as representation. This is why the elections in 2004 were so close for Christine Gregoire. Even the moderate left knew that she was a fruitcake (her main accomplishments in life have been wasting millions of Washington dollars and taxing everything under the sun). If the elections departments can be fixed, the 2004 election of radical leftists may not occur again and that would be a huge gain for conservatives in Washington.
Did you mean snow job?
The people that you would hurt the most by banning absentee ballots would probably be military members. I know that I was often underwater (being a submariner) during an election. I also know that I have spent years away from my home state (initially Montana) due to military orders. Without absentee ballots my vote never would have counted. Of course it didn't count anyways, since elections departments routinely foul up absentee ballots and even if they get everything correct, they don't count them unless the race is close.
Oops. I hate it when I do that. The military are the only people that have a valid reason to be away from their polling place on voting day.
So you're telling me that if I lived in the Seattle area and I wanted to go to my Polling place to cast my vote in
whatever election is going on today . That I would be out of luck. If I don't "Vote by Mail", I don't get to vote.??
Is Washington State still in the Union.?
It's gonna be REAL close. Sims needs every dead, illegal, and duplicate vote he can get to knock off David Irons.
Did you get all of the "vote fraud" bookmarked articles and threads under my screen id?
Look for "Fraud" + XX (= State) +
+ Year
Thanks- looking now.
Wyatt, Sorry. You are absolutely correct. I scanned the name and thought "Electronic Freedom Foundation" which also has people in Seattle. Evergreen is an EFF that I can totally get behind. They are doing the Lords work in fighting the democratic mafia in King County.
For reference:
Vote Early, Vote Often
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1518679/posts
That wouldn't work well with Christmas Carols.
So how do we get Congress to step in????
Article XV.
Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Perhaps state law should be amended to allow the coroner/medical examiner or the attending physician at time of death to report the matter to the elections department. Certainly the publication of a death certificate should trigger the removal.
If you agree, make this suggestion to your representatives and senators, or even to your loval ME's office. That ought to stir things up...
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