If you became a "permanent absentee" voter before you realized that you were sold a bill of goods and that voting by mail is a seriously flawed process that is far less secure and convenient than promised, perhaps you're ready to go back to voting at a neighborhood polling place where you can be confident again that you can vote in secret and that your ballot will actually be counted exactly as you intend it to be counted.. Imagine that.
In most other counties in the state, your right to cast a secure secret ballot has already been taken away from you. Here in King County you can still change your registration from "permanent absentee voter" to permanent secure secret ballot voter, at least for now. All you have to do is fill out this form. Just enter your name, address and birth date at left, sign below and mail it in to the address at the upper right or fax to the number at lower right. Follow up with a phone call to make sure your request was received and processed. (The original form is posted at this page under "Ongoing Absentee Ballot Request Form". The version I posted at this link is slightly marked up for clarity. And yes, I know the bilingual form is difficult to read. Unfortunately that's the only absentee ballot request form the county makes available. )
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at June 15, 2006 02:10 PM | Email ThisI'd support changes that make it more difficult to vote abssentee, while preserving the right and need of individuals who are physically unable to vote in person, due to disability or being out of the state.
As I've said before, I think there are a large number of citizens in this county that recognize the dangers of "anonymous" mail voting and would support such measures if they believed that it would help reign in illegal and invalid votes being counted. They know that their personal choice has no affect on the actions of others who would take advantage of the flaws in any vote by mail process to cancel out legal votes.
And instead of watching Democrats follow other jurisdictions into a less secure system, wouldn't it be novel for King County to lead the country into a more secure system that recognizes the greater potential for fraud in mail voting and do something to reduce it, and not increase its potential?
I believe that the overwhelming majority of voters who vote by mail today do it out of convenience, but also know that their personal choice does nothing to limit the thousands of ballots cast and counted by mail that are invalid and illegal. If King County honestly wants to restore public confidence in the elections process, getting rid of a partisan Elections director was just a good start. Now it should focus on steps that will prevent any citizens legal vote from being erroneously left out, or any legal vote from being cancelled out by an illegal vote.
Posted by: MJC on June 15, 2006 02:37 PMPeople don't believe you. Face reality. The more you cry fraud, the more people tune you out. You are the fraud.
"The more you go on about this, Stefan, the more voters in King County are switching to all-mail voting."
That's very interesting if true. Please post the data that backs up your assertion. (I assume you mean that voters are switching to permanent absentee voting not "switching to all-mail voting".)
Posted by: Bob Edelman on June 15, 2006 03:51 PMOnly you can answer that but if it was me the answer would be every election
Maybe I'm missing something but I don't recall anybody suggesting that people who really need absentee ballots should be denied them.
Posted by: RBW on June 15, 2006 04:52 PM"If I lost my permanent absentee status, I would have to request an absentee ballot for each election - how often do you think I would vote!"
The answer is - every time you really cared. Do you really care?
Are you too lazy to go to the poll? Are you absentee not because of travel or work or medical needs or some other legitimate reason, but merely because you're lazy?
Posted by: Larry on June 15, 2006 04:56 PM"The trend is unmistakable, despite the ever more frantic attempts of you and your cult to spin it otherwise."
Are you writing about the trend towards Conservatism in the USA? Are you spouting off about the trend that more and more people identify themselves as Republican every year?
Because there IS data to back up that trend, unlike the one you're really discussing.
I dont want to offend you in anyway, but this is MY take on the situation.
I loved going to the polls, knowing my ballot was put into a Green Bag (yes, i live in the boondocks). I punched out my selections, and the pollworker placed it into the lil bag.
I know my vote was worth my time, because I TOOK THE TIME TO GO VOTE.....
If you feel VOTING IS NOT WORTH YOUR TIME, then quit bitching. Do you rate voting akin to a trip to the dentist???? Or maybe a trip to your mom-in-laws house????
Voting is a privledge, not a RIGHT. I don't have the sacred right to go to the polls, because our county went to ALL MAIL. They didn't ask us, they just did it.....KC is doing the same.
But KC is different.... They seem to mess up at a every turn. They counted Illegal Votes, Dead Votes, and several people that lived in small mailbox Votes..... Do you realize that every one of those Illegal votes COULD or DID cancel out your "privledged" vote????
Do you think that I care if you are "bothered" by going to the polls, or if you want to continue to vote by absentee??? I don't, but KC council shouldn't be able to SHOVE it down your throats.
KC Elections has right now 70% of it's full time employees. Can any public agency (or private) that is responsible for something as important as YOUR vote be TRULY, accurate, transparent, or even half-ass on task???
I am getting sick and tired of the ME ME ME society we live in. For once, I would like to think that "fellow man" was watching out for me, but I guess we have past that point now haven't we......
Thanks for letting me rant, and Mr/Ms Absentee this wasn't directed at you personally, just my frustration of the self absosrbed goverment/liberal selfish world we live in today....
Posted by: Chris on June 15, 2006 07:22 PMHaving said that, I realize that Stephan did not explicitly say absentee ballots shouldn't be available. But when he called for restrictions without offering further explanation, I felt targeted - especially because of the reference to 'permanent absentees'. Am I making any sense?
I admit that I've wavered on how I feel about all-mail vs poll voting. I have been swayed to Stephan's position as the discussion has centered on the potential for fraud before the ballot gets the elections office. In 2004, the problem was primarily with the elections process, however, not the Post Office. I seem to recall reading about incidents where bundles of ballots, CAST AT THE POLLS, were never counted because they got stuck in a box, or something. So, poll voting isn't a panacea. Losing Dean Logan is a start, but the largest part of the problem in KC is the elections office.
Ok I'm done. But I think this is a subject about which reasonable people can disagree without being disagreeable. It's worth a try.
Posted by: an absentee voter on June 15, 2006 08:16 PMThanks your last post..... I am glad you take your Voting Privledge seriously.... We here at SP seem to know all the "details" about the Vote by Mail the council is trying to push.
For Business travelers like yourself, the absentee is perfect. It keeps you voting, and as you can read from my previous post, is very important to me.
As I posted earlier, It wasn't directed at you personally, and I hope you continue to vote EACH and EVERY time your Ballot arrives in your mailbox.
Posted by: Chris on June 15, 2006 08:26 PM