Digging Up The Vote In King County
Captain Ed
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports today that Christine Gregoire can credit her disputed victory in Washington's gubernatorial election to an aggresive get-out-the-vote campaign. In fact, Democrats succeeded so well at motivating their base that they managed a few resurrections:
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At least eight people who died well before the November general election were credited with voting in King County, raising new questions about the integrity of the vote total in the narrow governor's race, a Seattle Post-Intelligencer review has found.
The evidence of votes from dead people is the latest example of flaws in an election already rocked by misplaced votes and allegations that there were thousands more votes counted than actual voters.
County officials say they are investigating the cases pointed out by the P-I. "These are not indications of fraud," said Bill Huennekens, King County's elections supervisor. "Fraud is a concerted effort to change an election."
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Who is Huennekens kidding? Dead people casting ballots doesn't constitute vote fraud? Perhaps Huennekens entertains the possibility that the newly dead managed to become corporeal just long enough to punch the ballot, but decided against dropping by to see friends and family.
Casting a ballot under someone else's identity is vote fraud, whether or not it materially affects the outcome of the election. If King County election supervisors don't understand that basic concept, small wonder that their election turned out as the fiasco we see now. It begs the question as to what else Huennekens and other King County officials consider acceptable in voting behavior.
I liked this quote best:
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Doris McFarland said she voted for her husband, Earl, who died Oct. 7.
"I called up the elections board and said, 'Can I do it because he wanted me to vote?' " the Duvall woman said. "The person ... said, 'Well, who would know?' I said, 'I don't want to do anything that is wrong.' "
Huennekens disputed that election workers would say such a thing.
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Why would he doubt that, when he told the P-I that such an act doesn't amount to vote fraud? This election is disintegrating before our eyes. The state of Washington needs to throw out this farce and conduct a new election, one that uses specific rules regarding absentee and provisional balloting and eliminates the ludicrously flawed hand-count method. Perhaps they can also find election officials that understand that dead people aren't eligible to vote.
UPDATE: Photo of King County voters courtesy of CQ reader Mark Campbell.
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Posted by Captain Ed
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