Looks like we are in for a "winter of discontent" in Washington State.
Sound Politics - "Serious problems in King County Elections Department"
Washington State Republican Party chairman Chris Vance issued a press release earlier today alleging "four glaring examples of problems [calling] into question the way the [King County] Elections Department is run".
1. Ballots clearly marked for Dino Rossi are not being counted.
2. A partisan King County Elections employee is engaging in improper behavior.
3. Ballots are not being stored securely.
4. Ballots are missing from some precincts.
The complete press release follows in the extended entry.
Serious problems in King County Elections Department
Missing ballots, partisan employees, and more
Seattle, WA – Republicans today raised new questions about the way King County is conducting the recount of the governor’s race. They pointed to four glaring examples of problems that they say calls into question the way the county Elections Department is run.
Republican observers watching over the King County recount cited the following examples:
1. Ballots clearly marked for Dino Rossi are not being counted.
In more than one instance this morning, ballots where the bubble was clearly and fully marked for Dino Rossi were spit out of the machine because of other stray marks on the ballot. King County Elections workers noticed that there were faint marks on or around the bubble next to Christine Gregoire’s name. The workers recommended that these ballots be sent to the King County Canvassing Board to clear up any confusion, but King County Elections Superviser Bill Huennekens, who is a Democrat, ordered the workers to not count the ballots at all, even though they were clearly and fully marked for Dino Rossi. A Republican observer questioned Huennekens on his decision, but Huennekens was not responsive.
2. A partisan King County Elections employee is engaging in improper behavior.
Ten days ago, a paid temporary employee for King County Elections said aloud that he didn’t trust Republican observers. On a different day, the same employee got confrontational with a Republican observer, to the extent that the employee’s supervisor sent the employee home for the rest of the day. This morning, the same employee was observed running ballots through the machine – some of the ballots were spit out, which is normal. But instead of running all the spit-out ballots through the machine again, as he should have done, this employee took only some of the ballots and ran them through the machine again. When he was done, he took the ballots that had run through the machine again and shuffled them into the stack of ballots that he failed to run through the machine. A Republican observer notified a supervisor of this suspicious activity, and the supervisor has offered to run the entire batch of ballots through the machine again. Republicans are asking that this employee be removed.
3. Ballots are not being stored securely.
This morning, when ballots were being taken out of the supposedly secure storage area, one of the ballot boxes was not sealed and was open. The receipt on the ballot box from the night before said that there were 199 ballots in the box. But when the ballots were taken out and counted, there were 201 ballots in the box.
4. Ballots are missing from some precincts.
A Republican observer discovered this morning that in several precincts, there are fewer ballots on hand than were counted on Election Day. In one particular precinct, there were 88 fewer ballots on hand than were counted at the precinct polling place on Election Day. A batch of ballots from this precinct was delivered from the polling place to King County Elections not in a box, but in a bag. The bag wasn’t discovered until Friday, and it had not been stored in a secure location. The missing 88 ballots weren’t discovered until today.
State Republican Party chairman Chris Vance called the situation in King County “a mess,” and said the Elections Department needs to clean up its act.
“It is extremely troubling and disheartening to see this kind of behavior at the King County Elections Department,” said Vance. “After the 2002 election debacle, when the county made so many mistakes, you’d think the county would have bent over backwards to make this election process go smoothly. In fact, it looks as though it’s as bad as it’s ever been.
“Dean Logan is not in a position to supervise all of his employees at all times and some of the temporary and permanent eployees do not meet standards of fairness and competence.
“The voters of King County and of the entire state deserve to have all votes counted responsibly and properly, not to mention legally. This should not continue any longer. We need action now to make sure all valid votes are counted in King County.”
Yesterday the state Republican Party filed suit in Federal Court against King County and the Secretary of State’s office for the way the recount is being conducted in King County. Yesterday Republican Party observers saw that King County election workers were attempting to determine voter intent on ballots where a vote for governor was not clear. Election workers were “enhancing” ballots themselves. The GOP said this amounted to a partial hand recount, when all counties are supposed to be conducting machine recounts only.
A federal judge today denied the GOP’s request for a temporary restraining order based on King County’s assurance that 1) ballots are not being irreparably altered, and 2) “enhanced” ballots are segregated and available for later review. Vance said the state party believes King County’s assurances are not valid, and urged the media and the public to observe the process in King County to see for themselves what is happening.
Vance added, “The King County which today assured the judge that ballots are being handled properly is the same King County which is allowing these egregious improprieties to occur.”
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