The voter database has been updated:
1) Grays Harbor, Jefferson and San Juan counties have been added. Nearly 2/3 of Washington voters who voted in November 2004 are now listed! More counties to be added soon.
2) I've expanded the output to show partial mailing address information when a voter lists a mailing address that is different from the residence address. This will help identify illegal nonresident voters and other illegally registered voters. (many voters with out-of-state mailing addresses are legitimate, so be careful in drawing conclusions unless you have independent evidence)
The magnitude of non-resident voting.
The case of Dr. Daniel M. Sosin that surfaced on Saturday is a vivid example of people who obviously live elsewhere and vote in our elections. Dr. Sosin is probably not the only person who does this. I found that in King County alone there are about 10,000 people who actually voted on Nov. 2004 and who have out-of-state mailing addresses. (this does not include the several hundred APO/FPO addresses, which I presume to be legitimate cases of out-of-area voting). Many of these apparent non-residents are in fact legitimate residents, students who still vote exclusively at their parents' residence, say, or locals on temporary out-of-town work assignments. But some unknowable number are not bona fide residents. As a no-income-tax state, Washington is an attractive target for some out-of-staters to create a fictitious address here in order to evade income taxes in their proper state of residence. Establishing a voting record in Washington would be one way for a tax-evader to establish a fraudulent case to present to the home state taxing authorities in order to claim exemption from taxes in the communities whose services he uses.
A large number of illegal nonresident voters can throw the outcome of an election into doubt, both practically and legally. In the GOLD BAR CITIZENS v. WHALEN case, a 1981 city election in the Snohomish County town of Gold Bar was eventually set aside by the WA Supreme Court when it was shown that the number of nonresident votes exceeded the margin of victory in some races.
More recently, the Seattle Monorail Authority and Tax were established in Nov. 2002 by a margin of 877 votes, or by 0.45% of turnout. My analysis shows that 2,600 of the current King County voters who participated in the Nov. 2002 election and today give a Seattle residence, also have a non-Seattle mailing address. Sure, there has been some migration since the 2002 election. But fully 2.2% of the people who voted in Nov. 2004 with a Seattle residence also gave a non-Seattle mailing address. I'd be surprised if all of them are legitimate Seattle residents. It's too bad that the Monorail election was not challenged at the time under the Gold Bar precedent. Now it's too late.
But it's not too late to look for illegal nonresidents who voted here in Nov. 2004. Check out the voter database and see what you can find.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at January 31, 2005 11:37 AM | Email ThisWashington has a high population of snowbirds. Those are people who own homes here and live here most of the time. They travel south in the winter and live in motor homes during that time. My grandparents did this for many years after retiring.
Since most elections are in the winter they had their absentee ballots mailed to a mailbox they kept in Arizona. Exactly what absentees were designed for.
Posted by: Vince Callaway on January 31, 2005 11:46 AMIf there is some other point in combing through these files, other than to practice database skills, want to fill me in?
Posted by: Janet S on January 31, 2005 12:46 PMAnother source for legitimate votes of people not residing in the US are active duty military who are stationed within the Continental US. In more than a few cases they move around enough that they cannot meet local residency requirements so maintain their official address in Washington.
Posted by: Bruce B. on January 31, 2005 12:48 PMUnless these folks are registered to vote in both states, this search won't have much value to cleaning up elections. Better to *#&can MotorVoter, require picture ID and signature verification, check voter rolls for felons and deaths, eliminate provisional ballots, and reduce absentee ballots to really start cleaning up.
Posted by: iconoclast on January 31, 2005 12:50 PMPeople who have more information about their neighborhoods and specific voters can follow up and challenge the registrations. Also, a lot of the mailing addresses now available online give a hint where somebody might be living. Look up Dr. Sosin in King County and you'll see what I mean.
Posted by: Stefan Sharkansky on January 31, 2005 01:03 PMCheck the registered voters in the 40th legislative district. I do not remember the name or address, but in 1998 there was a little house in Bellingham (about 700 square feet) with 11 registered voters. These are not students because they all have the same last name. My guess is that they are family pets. But I don't know for sure.
Posted by: Al Anderson on January 31, 2005 01:24 PMHowever, another alternative might be to send information on these questionable voters to the Prosecuting Attorney. The PA's would really hate this...they are overworked as it is.
But, I agree with Shark. This is not a wated effort for the simple reason no one knows the magnitude of the problem. I think it is important for folks that are serious about not wanting their ballot "watered down" by illegitimate voters to keep pursuing this.
We will soon see which County Auditors really want "Legal Voters Only" and which ones could care less. Great campaign litmus test, don't you think?
That said, I will be happy to check my county's registration list against yours if you allow me to search mailing addresses by state. Challenge these criminals at the next election!
Posted by: Greg V on January 31, 2005 02:35 PMI know you have to challenge "improperly registered" voters before an election. You may well be right that this specifically relates to residence and was a response to Gold Bar. However, if we're going to have a revote we need to start cleaning up the voter rolls NOW. This is the right time to start challenging bogus registrations.
Posted by: Stefan Sharkansky on January 31, 2005 02:41 PMAs some posters have mentioned, not all military absentee voters have an APO/FPO address; for example, when I lived stateside on active duty, I had a normal address even though I lived on a base. You couldn't tell from looking at the address that I was in the military.
Also, my wife legally voted absentee when we moved around the U.S., and her name/address on file then would not have revealed that she was the spouse of an active duty service member.
I am not saying that efforts should not be made to clean up the registration rolls...only that at first glance of only names/addresses, one cannot ascertain if the voter is legitimate or not based only on that data.
Posted by: Shaun on January 31, 2005 04:28 PMEnter the address for the King County administration building..(500 4th ave ..remember that one?) LOOK at how many people suddenly felt a need to register to vote in 2004! AND who list their mailing address from out of state or out of country - OR - list a General delivery (PO BOX) as their physical address! There are also people who live at the food bank and tent city!
Then there are those who list their mailing address as 2119 SECOND AVENUE SUITE R1 SEATTLE WA...They live at the Real Change newspaper building! A left-leaning homeless paper.
Amazing!
Posted by: Deborah on January 31, 2005 08:18 PMLook at how many people live at the Thurston County Courthouse!
Many of them are also from out of the country and out of state - OR - list their home address as a PO BOX.....
2000 Lakeridge Dr sw - Thurston County....
It doesn't mention what year they first registered to vote.....or how they voted...but they voted!
Posted by: Deborah on January 31, 2005 08:53 PM"..."Home of Record" should not be confused with legal residence. "Home of Record" is the address a military member had upon entry into the Service. It does not change. "Home of Record" and legal residence may be the same address, and usually are, when a person enters military service. It can remain so even though the person or his/her relatives no longer live at that location, as long as the military member has not established a residence elsewhere after entering on active duty. If a military member changes legal residence after entering on active duty, he/she may not revert to claiming the "Home of Record" as legal residence without re-establishing physical presence and intent to remain in or return to that state.
Family members of active duty military personnel may each have a different legal residence. A spouse does not automatically assume the legal residence of the active duty member upon marriage. The spouse must meet the physical presence and intent to remain or return criteria. Minors typically assume the legal residence of either parent, and when they become 18, they also have the option of establishing their own legal residence which can be different from either parent, assuming they have met the guidelines of physical presence and intent to remain or return."
I don't know if civilians have the same rights (e.g. Foreign Service officer or DoD civilian), but you might want to check it out. Since WA state has extensive military presence, good retiree services, and no income tax it is a pretty popular state for maintaining residence. So be aware of that.
Posted by: iconoclast on January 31, 2005 10:19 PM