The Rossi Revote campaign released the names today of hundreds of felons who they believe cast illegal votes in November. The campaign also released the names of nearly fifty deceased persons in whose names votes were apparently cast.
Obviously, we can never know for whom these apparently illegal votes were cast. But in the case of felons, even Christine Gregoire implicitly acknowledges they would probably favor her.
Gregoire also indicated support for a House bill that would restore voting rights to felons who have served their time but still owe debts.UPDATE: The Rossi campaign has informed me that they're doing additional research on one of the names on the felon list. At their request, I'm pulling the file off the site until they've verified the details. Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at March 03, 2005 04:58 PM | Email This
-ron
Posted by: RonP on March 3, 2005 05:18 PMWESTERN STATE HOSPITAL
9601 Steilacoom Blvd SW/MS: W27-19
Tacoma, Washington 98498-7213
Causes one to be curious about not only their legal ability to vote, but their CAPABILITY to vote.
Mike
Posted by: MikeF on March 3, 2005 05:22 PMNo. But the known felon votes have thus been given almost entirely to Rossi.
Posted by: Erik on March 3, 2005 05:25 PMSince you were SO wrong about people 'dying to come to Seattle', I hesitate to ask if you can provide concrete stats on the 'known felon votes [that] have thus been given almost entirely to Rossi.'
But I'll ask anyway...can you provide more than two examples, please?
Posted by: Larry on March 3, 2005 05:38 PMYour favorite liberal guv has spoken...pay attention!
Posted by: Susu on March 3, 2005 06:03 PMPlease don't send her to Fremont, we don't need another Lenin.
Posted by: Al on March 3, 2005 06:18 PMShould we really be giving back certain rights to felons who have not met their restitution requirements? When crimes are committed, rights and privileges are lost. The right to vote can and should be taken away until they have "paid" their debt to society. Not one bit sooner. If the financial debt is impossible for them to pay, then they must live with the consequences of their actions.
CG is pandering to her constituency.
Posted by: Mike J on March 3, 2005 06:19 PMYou made a point to keep addresses somewhat cryptic in your voting database. It seems to me it would have been appropriate to do so for these people too don't you think?
I can see it now as zealous supporters on both sides try to hunt these people down to find out for themselves who they voted for, or otherwise harrass them.
Hope not.
Posted by: Daniel K on March 3, 2005 07:08 PMI still say that the best way to get to the bottom of this fraudulent outcome is to subject whatever election officials it takes; Logan, Huenekins, Egan and their ilk to a lie detector machine to ferret out the truth, because I predict that it will take nothing short of that. Don't be afraid to make waves - Republicans, because this state's future depends on it !
As for the felons being able to vote straight out of prison, I believe that if this bill is signed into law by the pretend Gov. LudaChris that it will be unconstitutional and a lawsuit should follow. Just as the Pacific Legal Foundation filed suit against King County today for the CAO, which will also be found to be unconstitutional !
Posted by: KS on March 3, 2005 07:09 PMLike someone else can't memorize that information? I could go for the other suggestion of a utility bill with an address on it.
It is very interesting that I can't find any stories on the elections report which was supposed to be available on line today after released. Maybe I'm looking too early.
Posted by: sgmmac on March 3, 2005 07:50 PM(A January letter to Tom the Progressive, who sent me this: Subject: 20 Amazing Facts About Voting in The USA: Banana republic or democracy?
http://nightweed.com/usavotefacts.html)
Assume you've now determined from John Fund's book that most of your Amazing! Facts! are neither. Most are as vapid as the recent noise
from Ohio or the old noise about disfranchised felons in Florida. (Fund concedes that Democrats running south Florida's elections in 2000
erroneously purged c. 100 rehabbed felons from voting rolls, while padding the rolls with the names of hundreds or thousands whose rights had not been restored. Ergo, every revote format -- even those of the NYT & Miami Herald -- favored Bush in that election. And the Civil Rights
Commission found no evidence of intimidation, despite their howls of protest at intimidation.
In Washington state's amazing election of 2004, two counties used Sequoia's paperless machines. In the consequent count, recount, and re-recount, Snohomish & Yakima Counties could only reiterate their initial tabulations for Sequoia precincts. Yes, that's a problem. No, despite left-lib whining, there's no evidence that machines tilted any farther to Republican Rossi than did paper ballots elsewhere. Predominantly Democrat Washington went predominantly to Rossi in 38 of 39 counties. Only the soviet of Seattle/King County favored Democrat Gregoire, who polled hundreds of thousands votes fewer, statewide, than Democrat Kerry or Democrat Pepsodent Patty Murray. Gregoire's 129-vote-landslide came at almost the literal last minute of the third count
when King County "discovered" mystery votes and voters.
Soundpolitics.com -- not the parties, courts, Democrat elections machinery in King County, or the newspapers [Note: David Postman excepted] -- has done the magnificent work of deconstructing this election. Stefan Sharkansky, a recovering Mondale liberal, read our constitution, read our RCWs, read our administraative codes, and read Bush v. Gore & the 2002 federal election reform law. Then he & they did the real dirty work: Getting the voter lists & checking them twice. Here's some of what they found:
* King County, and most or all Democrat fiefdoms, continue to operate under Clinton's motor-voter rules of 1993. As John Fund shows, Clinton & Reno created the exquisite irony, via DOJ, of requiring buyers of tobacco to show ID while requiring that no one require voters to show
ID at the time of voting or registration. (Mail-in registrations and those harvested by MoveOn.org & ACT simply require a registrant to
assert, not prove, citizenship; Arizona's new Referendum 200, which requires proof, is being challenged as discriminatory by the government
of ... Mexico.)
* Democrats in King County, the same sort of people who cried 'disfranchisement' when Democrat voters couldn't fill out a butterfly ballot that Democrats had designed, say it would be bigotry
if unrehabbed felons or incarerated felons were cleared from the voting rolls. Washington's constitution mandates that only felons whose
rights have been restored by court order will be allowed to register and vote. Mr. Sharkansky and Soundpolitics have determined that King County permitted dozens or hundreds of unreconstructed felons to vote in the last election. To be fair & balanced, Washington's Secretary of State, a Squish Republican, was also remiss in enforcing his own election laws.
* Ditto the dead. Only the dead who posted absentee ballots while still alive (then dying before November 2) could legally vote in this
state.
* Ditto double votes. Sharkansky has identified voters who voted early and often.
* Illegal Undocumented Unenumerated Whatevers: Only citizens, otherwise qualified, are qualified to vote in Washinton State & in 49 others, plus the D of C. Thanks to Clinton/Reno ... see above. Not even Mr. Sharkansky has a clue about the [expletive deleted] vote in King County or anywhere else. It's been don't-ask-don't-tell all the way. I've gone thru the whole thing - registration to ballot box - without proving
anything to anybody. And, like the motivated Democrat in California, I could have registered 36 times.
* And voted 36 times via absentee ballots: More than half the voters in our state vote absentee, with lush pastures of possibility for little frauds. (Again, see above: with multiple registrations going to flophouses, missions, & halfway houses on one-way streets, followed by absentee balloting from each faux address, one motivated Democrat can dillute the franchise of dozens of inhibited voters.) As in Florida 2000, the voting bloc truly disfranchised here was military voters stationed overseas. Many WA soldiers, sailors, & Marines didn't get their ballots, if at all, until after election day. As in Florida, count-every-vote Democrats couldn't care less about shutting out GOP-leaning military voters.
* Provisional ballots: On election night I wrote to the P-I's political guy about my Amazing! Adventure! at the downtown polling place. Didn't get my absentee ... no telling what mausoleum they sent it to ... so was compelled to vote the old fashioned way. Spent almost one hour trying to get someone to give me the standard ballot, not a provisional. Provisionals are for voters and "voters" who aren't registered at the precinct where they show up to vote. They are issued provisional ballots, which are supposed to be validated before being tabulated. My precinct, in the King County Administration Bldg that 500+ newly registered voters claimed as their residence, was handing out provisional ballots liberally, promiscously, like nose candy to red-diaper babies. Then, we learned two weeks ago, 400+ provisionals were fed directly into tabulating machines, sans validation, on election day. [Post-It Note: May have got this wrong. Perhaps I correctly received a provisional ballot as a consequence of not receiving an absentee ...]
Etc. Much MUCH more to say about all of this, & was surprised by our congruent interest in the integrity of elections. Assume your interest
in integrity is an honest interest. But also assume that, like Big Media, BM, you really aren't interested in correcting creative counting
that favors Democrats.
Thought your address was familiar. Your're about 100 giant steps from the house where Ike & Mamie got together: "(I)n 1905 the Doud family settled in Denver at 750 Lafayette."
I read it in the P(ravda)-I(svestiia): OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Republicans have released more than 1,100 names of alleged felons or deceased residents who the GOP says illegally cast ballots in the contested governor's race that Democrat Christine Gregoire won by just 129 votes. ...
One person identified on the felon list said she had her voting rights reinstated almost two years ago. "I went through the whole process," said [], 27, of Richland. Cliff, who refused to talk about her crime, said she voted for Rossi. ...
[], 40, was convicted of felony theft 15 years ago. He said he had his voting rights reinstated and has participated in the past six elections. He voted for Rossi and was dismayed to hear his name was on a list released by the GOP.
[Question: Somebody made this list & checked it twice. If two former felons, rights reinstated, made it onto our list, is anyone going to cut us slack for the other 1,133 names?]
Posted by: sandalista on March 3, 2005 08:16 PMThe problem is that two former felons assert and aver they should not have been on the list. If true, isn't that, like, a very bad thing? To have named names (redacted in my earlier post) that should not have been named? As if we didn't have enough hungry lawyers in this already?
Posted by: sandalista on March 3, 2005 09:14 PMFor those who don't want to pay or claim they can't, they SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT THAT BEFORE THEY COMMITTED THE CRIME! Is that so hard to fathom???
Posted by: Michele on March 3, 2005 09:45 PMIs "Done-O" Rossi
STILL jacking-off without cumming ????
Worse yet is the idea that complete morons continue to pass gas in his corner.
The man is DONE, idiots! Now part yourself from the bumbling twit and let him languish in the category of "sore loser" for all eternity.
Posted by: KingCountyIsTheOnlyOneThatMatters on March 4, 2005 05:20 AM"...But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State."
Of course, any sensible Federal judge will try to dismiss this because the procedings under Washington law are not completed. Then the fun begins...you appeal the dismissal on the grounds that 'delay is the deadliest form of denial.' Will the various King county officials tell the same story under oath that they are telling in press releases? I don't think so.
The most interesting part of all this is that I live in New Hampshire, and I could even file such a suit. I certainly have standing to reduce Washington state's representation in Congress and votes for President if their voting system is open to fraud to this extent. Hmmm.
There is also Article IV Section 4: "The United States s shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence." That argument is better made by Rossi. It seems to me that under this clause he does have a claim to protection from the violence done to Washington's laws. ;-)
Posted by: Robert I. Eachus on March 4, 2005 06:45 AMHow sad it is to live a life so full of hate and anger.
Posted by: Brandee on March 4, 2005 08:24 AMPeople like that scumbag don't realize that they are their own party's worst enemy.
The enemies of the Democrats are not the Republicans...we've been trying to work with them. The enemies of the Democrats are within.
Posted by: Larry on March 4, 2005 08:25 AMThe 2004 Governor’s election was STOLEN by up to 136,000 Illegal Aliens registered to vote in our 39 counties. In fact, Maria Cantdoitwell lost the election to Slade Gorton. The Seattle Monorail actually FAILED, not passed. All the stadium measures that passed, failed. School levies that passed by small margins all failed, and ... Rossi actually won by 1,000's of votes, not lost by 129 votes.
The Secretary of State who has gone around the state in town hall meetings admitted the debacle and botched election NEVER filed any narrative with the election returns making such an assertion. By law, he is required to file such narratives, and didn't.
The SOS has been required to weed out the illegal voters for years by getting the information from the INS. He didn't.
136,000 Illegal Aliens have been issued drivers licenses and most registered to vote. These illegal aliens should not be protected: they should be prosecuted and removed from the voter's lists. Major measures and elections in the past 6-10 years ALL need to be re-voted on once the state weeds out all of the illegal aliens from voter rolls.
The IRS reports that 136,000 taxpayers have not filed for their $500-$1500 tax refunds for 2001, 2002 and 2003. Hello? What does this say, folks?
The IRS says, “In many cases, the refunds amount to significantly more than small change. Half of those expecting refunds are entitled to more than $520, according to a spokesman for the IRS in Seattle. In Washington state alone, the overdue refunds amount to more than $58 million.”
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/211258_taxrefunds09.html
With up to 136,000 potential illegal aliens registered illegally to vote, even if a few thousand of the 136,000 people who have failed for three years to file for small tax refunds turn up to be registered voters, such a discovery will clearly question why the Secretary of State with its resources has done nothing to weed out people who have no right to register, to vote, and ought to face legal prosecution for having violated any number of laws.
http://www.recallreedblog.blogspot.com called the Fraud Line for the IRS on 02/09/05, and talked with Miss Sharp, #0700520, from 8:15AM to 8:45AM. Bottom line is they have the names and addresses, but IRS Code 6103 prohibits them from releasing it. Her # is 1-800-829-0433.
The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) estimated in February 2003 that the number of illegal aliens in Washington had risen to about 136,000 residents. That is more than double the previous INS estimate of 52,000 illegal aliens resident in the state as of October 1996.
http://www.fairus.org/Research/Research.cfm?ID=2354&c=9
Incarceration costs for FY 2004 were estimated to be $4,300,435. Medical Costs for Illegal Aliens in our state are estimated by the INS to be $3,243,181.
Over 136,000 illegal aliens are living in Washington, estimates the Migration Policy Institute. [1] This is an increase of 48,000, or 92 percent, since 1996 and an increase of 70,000 or 233 percent, since 1992.
http://www.fairus.org/Research/Research.cfm?ID=2353&c=9
1. Jeffrey Passel, “New Estimates of the Undocumented Population in the United States,” Migration Information Source, May 22, 2002.
The Children’s Alliance estimates that as many as 23,000 illegal alien children under the age of 18 live in the state. [2]
2. Kate Riley, “Fouled-Up System Victimizes Worthy Immigrant Students,” Seattle Times, July 15, 2002.
Washington authorities requested $37.5 million in compensation from the federal government in FY’99 for the incarceration of illegal aliens in state and local jails and prisons, but it received only $14.4 million, leaving $23 million in uncompensated costs to be borne by Washington taxpayers.
www.recallreed.blogspot.com contacted a number of organizations concerning the illegal aliens voting. One of many responses we received is as follows:
“Thanks for writing. I suspect that all of those "taxpayers" ARE illegal. If they have social security numbers, they can be easily checked. Many probably are using numbers issued to real alive American citizens. The state Attorney General should get involved, locate and prosecute.
John M Morganelli
USA Political Action Committee
PO Box 1426
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18016-1426
Email: BD3301@netscape.net
Website: http://www.usapac.us
[District Attorney John M Morganelli is the elected District Attorney of Northampton County, Pennsylvania. Morganelli is a 4 term DA, and Past President of the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association. He is a straight talking, no nonsense, and tough on crime, District Attorney. He believes that illegal immigration is one of the most important crime and security issues facing the U.S. He has appeared on national television shows like CNN's "Lou Dobbs Tonight" and Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor" because of his aggressive position on illegal immigration. He is against the issuance of driver’s licenses to illegal aliens. He does not recognize the legitimacy of the matricular consular card issued by the Mexican government and other foreign id cards.]
What has the Attorney General’s office and the Secretary of State’s Office done to rectify this situation?
It is common knowledge that illegal aliens in Washington state can "easily" get their social security card -- as a stepping stone to get a job -- a driver's license -- other identification -- and a voter registration card.
It is a matter of routine, when applying for a driver's license, for Department of Motor Vehicle employees [DMV] to ask the applicant if they would like to register to vote.
Armed with a free voter registration card, the illegal alien continues to legitimize their status.
Lots depend on this, not to mention homeland security. There are at least 1.7 million such taxpayers. The INS says there are ten times that many in our country.
As many as half are likely to be illegal aliens who for years have decided close elections, and this will be the first time they are identified.
They are being felon-friendly and SOFT ON CRIME as usual, just trying to work it to their advantage. You don't think the average person will see right through this.
So, KingCountyIsTheOnlyOneThatMatters, why don't you go back into that sewer that you and your pathetic socialist brethren reside ? Unfortunately, the Dems in the State Legislature are acting like that also, not allowing opposing views to be debated in committee - free speech no longer exists there - the State Legislature is now the Politoburo/just like the days of the Soviet Union. That wall must come down !
Posted by: KS on March 4, 2005 08:48 AM"(Gregoire)said that an acknowledgment of problems in the state does not mean that the legitimacy of her win is in question."
...This statement is laughable and merits no further comment
"Gregoire said she spoke at length with Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico over his recent proposal that would require a voter to verbally give election officials a name, the last four digits of a Social Security number, and a birth year, or else show documentation that could include a photo ID, utility bills, government checks or paychecks or tribal ID.
"I think his approach merits strong consideration in our state," she said."
...I fully support this and am (for once) in strong agreement with mansion caretaker, Gregoire. These measures in this last election would have most likely prevented the gubenatorial cloud that is now resting over this state and would have prevented us from having to perform a new/special election to elect a governor in the months ahead.
I am shocked at your statement concerning restoring rights to felons who have not paid their debts. If you commit a crime that happens to be a Felony you should have to abide by the laws currently on the books.
One of the major problems with this last election is that current laws were not followed by some voters and also by some election poll workers. So instead of holding a violator accountable you now suggest that we should change the laws?
What about election reform? What about Following State Laws, as the former State Attorney General you of all people should know better than to change the rules to benefit the crime. Innocent victims will pay and legal voters will be disenfranchised if your suggestion becomes law.
Incentives are on place to guarantee that felons will pay restitution to their victims and to the State or local municipality.
Suspending the right to vote IS one. Lets keep it that way.
The act would further erode federalism by stripping states of their traditional rights to regulate elections. States would be required to have no-excuse absentee voting and to conform to new federal standards regarding mandatory recounts, provisional ballots, poll workers, early voting, voter waiting times and many other matters.
Liberals have a certain versatility of conviction regarding states' prerogatives. They celebrated stripping states of their right to set abortion policy, but concerning a constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriage, they insist—correctly—that setting marriage law is traditionally the states' prerogative. Now comes the Boxer-Clinton-Jones bill, which is endorsed by a slew of liberal groups. It would override all states' disenfranchisement laws by giving felons the right to vote. ...
Sentimentalism and cold calculation combine to make felons' voting attractive to liberals. They know that criminals often come from disadvantaging circumstances and think such circumstances are the "root causes" of criminality. As for the calculation, it is indelicate to say but indisputably true: most felons—not all; not those, for example, from Enron's executive suites—are Democrats. Or at least were they to vote, most would vote Democratic.
But courts have been unreceptive to "disparate impact" arguments, absent a showing of invidious motives. So there is no violation of the 14th Amendment guarantee of "equal protection of the laws" when all felons, black or white, are disenfranchised for their decisions to break laws. Furthermore, that amendment specifically sanctions felon disenfranchisement laws. ...
Here is a question for liberals who, eager to have Congress lessen the sanctions states have chosen to attach to state crimes, would have Congress overturn felon disenfranchisement laws: Would you want Congress to overturn state laws that say felons can never again own or use guns?
....
© 2005 Newsweek, Inc.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7102435/site/newsweek/
Should we really be giving back certain rights to felons who have not met their restitution requirements? When crimes are committed, rights and privileges are lost. The right to vote can and should be taken away until they have "paid" their debt to society. Not one bit sooner. If the financial debt is impossible for them to pay, then they must live with the consequences of their actions.
Since restitution is a civil matter, not a criminal matter, then sure, once they've served their time and if they continue to make regular court-ordered payments, there is absolutely no reason to deny anyone the right to vote.
People make mistakes in life, and many learn from them and become useful members of society. The false assumption(s) that you people make here is that:
When the average person thinks of a felony crime, they automatically think of murder, rape and burglary. They don't think of that joint they might have smoked sometime in their life, or that check they might have bounced. (yes, that is a felony called "Unlawful Issuance of a bank draft"). They don't think of that bar fight they might have gotten into, or that car they might have cut off on the freeway in a fit of anger. They might not have realized driving in a national forest with a loaded firearm in their vehicle is a federal offense.
Have any of you done anything stupid in your life that you were lucky you weren't caught for? If you say "yes", then you are an honest person. But just because you weren't caught for it doesn't make you any better than those who were.
I think the issue here is whether the person who committed a crime in the past has become a different person now. Yes, there are many EX-felons out there who are living an honest life and many of them are still paying their financial obligations as well. Judge a person for who he or she is now, not for something that is in the past and has paid for.
Many of you profess to be Christian -- try applying those Christian values.
Posted by: Political Pulpit on March 6, 2005 05:25 PM