The Thursday newspapers report on the bogus Mail Ballot Report from the September primary election which showed that 390 ballots were missing.
Seattle Times: "Logan not sure of fate of 390 votes"
Dean Logan said Wednesday he doesn't know what happened to 390 ballots in the September primary.May well have been counted? And Mrs. Gregoire may well have received the largest number of legal votes in last year's governor's election.The ballots may well have been counted, Logan said, despite Republican Party claims Wednesday that they probably were lost.
The P-I's has a delicious headline but closes with Dean Logan's hysterical explanation: "Absentee ballots lost in primary"
Registered voters are credited with voting absentee in the county computer system when the signatures on their mailed-in ballot envelopes are matched to registration records on file. But that crediting number may not match the actual number of ballots ultimately tabulated for various reasons, Logan said. There may be no ballot in a signed envelope, or the ballot may be improperly filled out, autographed by the voter or otherwise rendered ineligible for counting.This is flagrant nonsense. The Mail Ballot Report already accounts for empty envelopes and illegible ballots (lines 5a and 5b). And if the "Total Mail Ballots Accounted for and Valid" reflects the number of envelopes that were returned that were not otherwise rejected in the Line 4 number, then Line 2, "Total Number of Mail Ballots Returned" should equal Line 7 + Line 4, instead of Line 3 + Line 4. Not that I'd expect the P-I to figure this out or challenge Dean Logan about it. Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at November 03, 2005 01:04 AM | Email This
Thanks, Stefan, for pulling their pants down in public!
Posted by: Saltherring on November 3, 2005 05:21 AM
Vance defended the timing of Wednesday's announcement, just days before the general election. He said his staff received the county's Mail Ballot Summary Report on Friday and hadn't verified the discrepancy until Wednesday.
Logan is the master at pi$$ing in the well and then complaining that the coffee tastes funny.
You need to be a little more careful with your posts. The reconciliation information was not made available to the Republican party until last Friday. I don't know why.
Regarding a previous post of yours, you asked if anyone out there really thinks that if there was as much evidence of voter fraud as Shark suggests that the FBI or the State AG's office would not have already launched an investigation. The answer is yes. The AG does not have jurisdiction to investigate unless requested by the Governor or by the county attorney. I have talked to the FBI several times earlier in the year and they will not investigate since the US Attorney, John McKay, has refused to prosecute. (This may have changed recently but the FBI seldom announces their investigations.) You can call John McKay yourself and ask him why. His number is (206) 553-7970.
Norm Maleng is the person who should be initiating an investigation. He is in the odd position of being the county's attorney and his Civil Division defends Dean Logan. He should refer these matters to another county prosecutor or to the AG but he has not for reasons I can't explain. I do know that lack of evidence is not one of them. I have personally given him evidence of election fraud by individuals and he chooses to exercise his "prosecutorial discretion" and not do anything. You can ask Norm Maleng why. He can be reached at (206) 296-9000.
Good luck.
Posted by: Bob Edelman on November 3, 2005 08:25 AMThe GEMS count of ballots sent through the vote tabulation is noted on that mail ballot report. That's the number of pieces of paper sent through. It is less than the number of pieces of paper that were supposed to have been sent through after all the screening of ballots had been done.
Not one of Logan's stated causes for a discrepancy is valid.
No "could have or might have" BS from Logan should be accepted by any reporter, but it is.
Posted by: Micajah on November 3, 2005 09:47 AMThanks for your thoughtful response. Does the fact that the U.S. Attorney, John McKay (appointed by Bush, brother to Mike McKay - head honcho in the Bush/Cheney re-election efforts in Washington) is refusing to bite on the bait not give you reason to reconsider whether the allegations made by the republicans are just wrong? That King County elections did not engage in fraud or any other criminal conduct? Can you think of any other reason why the FBI and/or the U.S. Attorney would not be investigating these claims? Or, if they are investigating, why they've made no public announcement in the year since last year's election. You may be an elections expert. I am not. But, I have a high degree of confidence in the Department of Justice when it comes to enforcing voting laws and I am confident that they would have taken action had there been any credible evidence of wrongdoing on behalf of King County (if there was any DOJ political bias here, it certainly would not be in favor of Democratic King County). No?
Posted by: Claire on November 3, 2005 11:21 AMIf any action were taken by any government that has an R in it, the spin would be fast and furious and harm any good candidate.
Posted by: fred on November 3, 2005 12:37 PMBob,
This makes no sense. The US Attorney handling Spokane pulled himself off of the West case and it was given to McKay... If they can substitute US attorneys - why can't we on the west side of the mountains? Better yet, why not go above McKay? Why in the Hell would McKay deny justice in such a huge election fraud case? Why isn't Chris Vance making McKay's stance on this public? There is something very wrong here...
1. MSM Media is ingoring the obvious evidence of fraud.
2. The US Attorney is ignoring it
3. Somehow our local county laws are written to make any investigation by the county prosecutor - a conflict of interest..and Maleng seems OK with that!
4. Our State GOP has been invisible...
5. Our National GOP has been invisible...
6. The local Democrat party has been invisible..
7. Our State attorney General has been silent on this...
Something is truly wrong with this picture on so many levels...Something appears wrong with both the Republican and Democrat partys here.. This lack of outrage from both sides is not natural...and it seems when they do grab airtime to dispute something - it's scripted......
I feel we are being played....