And no discussion of duplicate registrations in Sam Reed's new statewide voter database would be complete without a mention of Dustin S. O'Coilain. O'Coilain was the first suspected double voter of the Nov. 2004 election, reported on this blog on January 4, 2005 from a reader tip. The Seattle Times reported a few months later that the King County Prosecuting Attorney filed criminal charges against O'Coilain for illegal voting and also that O'Coilain's real name is Dustin Collings.
There are two remarkable things about this. First, the new statewide database shows that Collings is still registered twice in King County as Dustin S. O'Coilain and that there is also a Dustin Collings with the same birthdate registered in Benton County. The second remarkable thing is that Collings was never charged for registering to vote under an alias. The reason being is that registering under an alias is apparently not illegal in this state. In order to register to vote one must provide one's "name", but there doesn't seem to be any requirement that one must register using one's legal name so I guess one can legally register under any name one pleases (If any experts on election law believe I'm incorrect about this, please let me know). Deliberately registering multiple times with intent to vote mutliple times is a crime, but it would be all but impossible to actually detect instances where people register under different names.
For much more on duplicate registrations in the statewide voter database, scroll down to read the previous post.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at February 06, 2006 11:06 AM | Email ThisYour moniker is so appropriate now. I might have to become Jeff C. as in Cynical. I use to honestly believe that voting in the US was one of those things that was air-tight, highly civilized, and a wonderful example for the rest of the world. I mean we all knew about Chicagoland elections, but figured that was isolated, local abuse.
Now, I don't trust anything anymore save for things I know have total integrity like my wife and my brother and a few friends.
It's just a total joke. Until we throw out the entire voter database and start over, it will never be fixed. It's that simple. It's "totaled" beyond repair.
The only solution to this mess is to get Republicans in control in Olympia, and then make things right with legislation. It's going to take a lot of cleanup, more than Hanford, to fix all the steaming dung piles that the Democrats have left all over this state. And even today's Republicans may not have enough of a backbone to get the job done.
The good news is that as the average voter becomes more aware of the lies told to them by the mass media for the past 50 years thanks to blogs, talk radio, and other new media sources, they are waking up to the real face of Democrats today. And it sure is ugly. Meanwhile, the Democrats are doing everything in their power to run the state into the ground, destory education, give more power to monopoly government unions, tax us into oblivion, alienate big business, etc. Their destruction of WA is terrible, but the kind of stuff that we couldn't make up in our wildest dreams.
The Democrats will implode, it's only a matter of time.
Sorry if I just gave anyone a bad idea, but the system is so broken, that it's not going to protect us in a close result anyway. Moonbats believe that their candidates have a "right" to office, so they are going to lie, cheat and steal to get what they want because to them, it's just the natural provenance.
Then you get the slightly smarter types like Goldstein, who calls himself a "progressive." A nice newspeak term that lets them feel like they are for something positive, when in actuality, their views are closely aligned with the Marxists, if not fully aligned.
The great thing is that more and more, they are just coming out and admitting, that yes, their goal is nothing less than implementing Marxist ideas in the US. And this is where the average Joe realizes that if that's what Democrats stand for, he's no longer on-board. The average Joe I am writing about here is the card carrying Union member who has always voted Democrat and enjoys high union pay, but who is otherwise a good American who believes in Thanksgiving, the 4th of July, Capitalism, nationalism, the assertion of our military against Islamic fanaticism, etc. In short, these people have been a big part of the base of the Democrats, but the base is eroding because you have to be one sick puppy to believe in the ideas that more and more of the Democrat leadership are espousing.
Just look at the evidence. Feinstein is now the conservative running against Sheehan. It's amazing.
And, as I keep saying, we can't give these people enough rope, they are making nooses and then slipping them on with wild abandon.
Registering under a false name is a federal crime under 42 USC 1973i. To alleviate the problem of nick names and name variations, our registration law should be changed to require full legal name where “legal name” means the voter's full name at birth, including first, middle, and last name, or full name as legally changed by a court of law or by marriage.
Posted by: Bob Edelman on February 6, 2006 01:59 PMI should have added to my last post that the statute you linked to, RCW 29A.08.010 "Information required for voter registration", conflicts with RCW 29A.08.210 Application - Information required - Warning. The former is a definition of "Information required for voter registration" while the latter specifies what the applicant must provide. It requires "applicants full name". The legislature should repeal RCW 29A.08.010 - it serves no useful purpose. The courts would have to sort this out if someone gets charged with a violation of .210.
Posted by: Bob Edelman on February 6, 2006 02:34 PMYou know as well as I do that just because someone votes numerous times under different names it doesn't mean that there is any fraud.
Quit trying to fool the good voters in King County.
They are too smart for that.
After all . . . they voted for me.
Ron Sims
Posted by: Ron Sims on February 6, 2006 04:07 PMYou have GOT to be kidding!
This is beyond insane anymore!
Does anyone in this state TRY to understand the spirit in which a law is written? Or does everyone just look for vague possibilities and loopholes? When the voter registration says to "provide your name" - isn't it generally understood that it means "your legal name"? Not "what your girlfriend calls you", what your gang-name is", etc....
This state, under flakey Democrat control, has gone completely squirrely with our laws...
Posted by: Deborah on February 7, 2006 12:29 AMI assumed that the Democrats has a 10,000 vote head start out of the starting gate. I am now convince the it is more than my original assumption. But so what. It could be 50,000. It simply does not matter. Catch 22 will shield any wrong doing. No one in government was prosecuted for wrongdoing.
Corruption breeds corruption. It is difficult for voters to respect laws when such glaring offenses are committed by public officials. Their in lays the seeds of destruction.
Posted by: Snuffy on February 7, 2006 07:39 AM