This is the internal report [large PDF] that King County Elections wrote to describe how it discovered the 93 uncounted and unaccounted-for absentee ballots. It's overwritten and boring as all hell, but it does have some interesting revelations --
1) All of the voters whose ballots were found in the outer envelopes were credited. This confirms my earlier assumptions and my estimate that there are 881 more absentee ballots counted than there are credited voters who could have cast them.
2) The King County Elections database really does track the date that every absentee ballot arrived along with the disposition of the ballot. The Absentee Ballot Audit Trail is not just a legal requirement. It exists and King County should release it.
3) Every batch of ballots (150 - 400 or so) has a "batch slip" on which is written a discrepancy between "what was initially verified and transferred to the opening process" and "what was ultimately tabulated". Gosh, it would be interesting to tabulate all of those discrepancies, wouldn't it, let alone find out why such discrepancies could exist in the first place, not to mention find out why they weren't corrected before the election was certified.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at April 07, 2005 01:16 AM | Email ThisI read through the 16 page PDF file that you linked on your website. While I agree that the law requires King County to maintain such a database, I either didn't see or overlooked the portion of the report that would support such a database actually existing.
Can you point out which page of the report (and of the overall PDF file) actually indicates that King County maintains this database of ballot receipt and disposition?
Posted by: Richard Pope on April 7, 2005 02:44 AMWhen the number was initially reported at 87, your math was 780 plus 87 equals 867:
http://www.soundpolitics.com/archives/004104.html
You got 780 from (a) 808 more absentee ballots than voters credited (b) minus 251 unregistered FWAB's (c) minus 69 confidential addresses (equals 488 at this point) (d) plus 203 rejected multiple ballot (e) plus 89 rejected wrong election ballots, equals 780.
Did 780 suddenly become 788? And if so, why?
Posted by: Richard Pope on April 7, 2005 02:54 AMAfter Terri's murder, NO ONE gets a pass.
The Sun is rising on a Brand New DAY!! \@/
Posted by: Arky on April 7, 2005 04:53 AM"On March 24...Dean Logan directed that I conduct a full investigation of all absentee ballot envelopes from the November 2004 General Election."
-- So a full investigation of all absentee ballot envelopes was not conducted in November 2004? It was not ordered during the first count, the first recount, nor the manual recount? Why not? Or was it ordered and not performed?
"On March 30, Mr. Logan directed that the investigation be expanded to include a complete examination of all provisional ballot envelopes..."
-- Same questions - So an investigation of all provisional ballot envelopes was not conducted in November 2004? It was not ordered during the first count, the first recount, nor the manual recount? WHY NOT?
This document is so ridiculous, no wonder it was written to be boring as hell. And this only covers 93 out of thousands of mistakes - it's only one facet of the jewel that is King County Elections Commission's incompetence and fraud.
Posted by: Larry on April 7, 2005 07:32 AMThis is blowing up big time. Logan is almost surely a goner. Sims is in a Catch-22. It's getting to the point where he can't legitimately keep Logan on board without risking his political capital which he needs for his reelection bid. But, if he does fire Logan, it makes him look bad for hiring someone who created this mess in the first place, and it focuses the spotlight on him one more time. He's getting over exposed.
It's too early to celebrate, but it's pretty easy to see a scenario in which Logan gets fired, Sims loses his reelection bid, and the November Governor's race gets thrown out removing Gregoire from office.
And in the end, most of the damage will probably have been caused by the MoveOn Moonbats that fed illegal provisionals and created fraudulent absentee ballots, etc.
Oh, and I'm going to have to remember to send another thank you letter to Michael Moore for whipping all these idiots into hysterics in the first place.
Pass the popcorn.
Posted by: Jeff B. on April 7, 2005 11:24 AMRegarding the internal memo's reference to records which show the date of receipt for the absentee ballots:
For the first reference, look at the last paragraph on the second page of Garth Fell's memo to Dean Logan. That batch was recorded as received on "10/20/2004."
Similar statements were made for the other misplaced ballots found March 24 -- April 2.
Regarding the 780 and 788 -- heck if I know.
Stefan,
Did you refigure the numbers or just make an error in changing from 780 to 788 (and then adding 93 to get 881 rather than 873)?
Posted by: Micajah on April 7, 2005 11:38 AMDon't forget to thank George Soros as well. His $27 million is the gift that keeps on giving.
Posted by: Larry on April 7, 2005 01:32 PM