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April 28, 2009
Turn Your Dial To AM 570
by Jim Miller, 06:53 AM, 9 Comments
If you want to hear Stefan Sharkansky discuss his legal settlement later this morning.... [read more]
November 03, 2008
That Port Angeles Yacht Club?
by Jim Miller, 04:21 PM, 12 Comments
You may have heard about it in ads attacking Dino Rossi. Dori Monson has a picture. Doesn't look like a place for plutocrats, at least to me. (Note to commenters: Please don't be a troll. Please don't feed the trolls.... [read more]
September 19, 2008
It's Out
by Jim Miller, 03:29 PM, 31 Comments
The second edition of John Fund's Stealing Elections. Chapter ten is titled: "Florida with Rain: Seattle Chaos", and describes one or two little problems we had here in 2004. The chapter has a hero; he's the founder of Sound... [read more]
May 24, 2007
Worth Reading:
by Jim Miller, 06:46 PM, 16 Comments
"Patterico" reacts to Stefan's interview with John McKay. Here's Patterico's summary: So you have a U.S. Attorney who thought the election stank, but still waited for a confession or an informant before investigating — and consequently was unable to uncover... [read more]
November 02, 2005
Where's Waldo?
by P. Scott Cummins, 09:48 AM, 34 Comments
Blogger Patrick Bell wants to know, where's Waldo, err, Gregoire? As he put it in this post at Respectfully Republican: Much like where's Waldo, I want to know what our state's most powerful and outspoken Democrat is up to these... [read more]
October 20, 2005
Rossi Endorsed by the Seattle Times
by P. Scott Cummins, 08:24 PM, 9 Comments
Well, sorta. Don't miss Bruce Ramsey's plug for Dino Rossi's new book in the Seattle Times that is tantamount to an endorsement for 2008, and an ongoing pang of "buyer's remorse" that so many Dinocrats expressed (loudly) during the revote... [read more]
August 30, 2005
Stefan Made The New York Sun
by Jim Miller, 05:15 PM, 3 Comments
Or at least his work did. In an article on the sloppy voting rolls in New York city, I found this paragraph. The author of "Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens our Democracy," John Fund, said improper voter registration... [read more]
July 15, 2005
Talk To Governor Gregoire At 10
by Jim Miller, 04:55 AM, 18 Comments
By way of Orbusmax, I learn that she will be taking questions on KUOW's "Weekday" program this morning. And I am certain that host Steve Scher, who has made great efforts to include those who disagree with Democratic politicians and... [read more]
June 06, 2005
Rossi will not appeal
by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:04 PM, 303 Comments
Dino Rossi has just announced that he will not appeal to the state Supreme Court. Congratulations to Mr. Rossi for a fight well fought. Among the two gubernatorial candidates between whom the margin of separation was 1/13 the number of... [read more]
First Thoughts On Judge Bridges' Decision
by Jim Miller, 01:16 PM, 120 Comments
Those who have read my posts since the election know that I am nearly certain that fraudulent votes gave Christine Gregoire her narrow margin in our governor's race. But I also said, in this post, that I was not sure... [read more]
Nothing to do but work harder
by Andy MacDonald, 09:52 AM, 332 Comments
Judge Bridges has ruled against the plaintiffs and let stand the results of the 2004 governor's election. He did not accept the use of proportional deduction and did not find fraud either by the election workers or the parties. So,... [read more]
Judgment Day
by Stefan Sharkansky, 06:50 AM, 250 Comments
The hotel in Wenatchee has excellent Wi-Fi. Who knew? Today is the big day. Will Judge Bridges side with common sense and rule that election officials can't just keep counting ballots again and again and get different numbers every time... [read more]
June 05, 2005
Final Thoughts on the eve of the ruling
by Stefan Sharkansky, 07:06 PM, 82 Comments
I'm about to leave for Wenatchee. This is my final post before the ruling. As I've mentioned before, I'm predicting that Judge Bridges will set aside the election. This is, of course, far less than 100% certain, but it's based... [read more]
Jenny Durkan's "Own Goal"s
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:47 PM, 43 Comments
As promised, here's a list of some of the "own goal"s that Democrat attorney Jenny Durkan scored in her closing argument. On behalf of everybody who favors setting this election aside in the name of ensuring integrity in our state's... [read more]
June 04, 2005
The missing link
by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:04 PM, 48 Comments
I had been so focused on the phony reconciliation of absentee ballots that I had forgotten about the specific WAC for poll site reconciliation until Harry Korrell cited it in his closing argument. Reconciling and reporting the results to the... [read more]
June 03, 2005
Back from Wenatchee
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:59 PM, 74 Comments
I'm back home from Wenatchee. The highlights of the trial: both Harry Korrell and Jenny Durkan in their closing arguments gave Judge Bridges some very good reasons to nullify the election. I believe the Judge would rule for the Petitioners... [read more]
Foulkes music (to my ears)
by Timothy Goddard, 08:54 PM, 25 Comments
In light of this post regarding the Foulkes v. Hayes case, it has been requested that I link to this post over at Flag of the World, in regards to yet another post I made on the subject four months... [read more]
This Isn't Entirely A Bad Idea
by Jim Miller, 09:41 AM, 66 Comments
But I think I might choose a different location. King County officials have a tentative agreement to buy a Rainier Valley building and turn it into a modern, $22.8 million election center intended to help avoid a repeat of the... [read more]
June 02, 2005
Legal Analysis
by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:03 PM, 95 Comments
Our stealth legal expert answers my question on the significance of Bridges' questioning of Dean Logan yesterday: I think that there is an awful lot of spin going on from the political parties - especially the D's. I thought Bridges'... [read more]
Flash: Foulkes didn't Meet Foulkes v. Hayes Standard Either
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:06 PM, 15 Comments
Kenny Foulkes, whose ultimately successful election contest lawsuit of 1977 set the Foulkes v. Hayes precedent for election contests, says that Dino Rossi's case doesn't meet the standard set by the Foulkes case: Foulkes wishes his case would make the... [read more]
Day Eight
by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:10 AM, 43 Comments
King County elections supervisor Linda Sanchez is in the hot seat again. (initially the comfy chair of Hamilton's questioning). Linda Sanchez is in charge of the canvassing crew. Croker Sack says that Sanchez doesn't seem to understand the purpose of... [read more]
June 01, 2005
"Finish your reconciliation before you certify the election"
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:48 PM, 45 Comments
From the Secretary of State's training manual, titled "The Canvassing Process", a kind of county auditor's version of All I Really Need to Know About Elections I Learned In Kindergarten. This is the document that Nixon Handy was forced to... [read more]
Political Analysis
by Stefan Sharkansky, 06:34 PM, 28 Comments
A reader posted this comment to my "Nixon Impeached, Resignation Expected" entry of late last night. It's worth displaying more prominently: Regardless of the outcome of the trial, Handy Nixon's testimony today revealed the most appalling set of actions of... [read more]
Legal Analysis
by Stefan Sharkansky, 06:33 PM, 22 Comments
Our mystery legal expert e-mails: It will be interesting to see how Judge Bridges treats Dale's attempt to impeach Nick's testimony. I personally do not think that it was a wise move and nor do I think it was successful... [read more]
Linda Sanchez
by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:12 PM, 51 Comments
Democrats just called Linda Sanchez, King County Elections Operations Supervisor. She's in charge of the canvass "which is the reconciliation of the pollbooks after an election". [I'm told by people who worked on the canvassing crew that the canvass was... [read more]
Telling Moment
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:48 PM, 44 Comments
One of the most telling moments of the trial so far was when Judge Bridges read back to Dean Logan these of Logan's own words from the 2004 Elections Report Report [sic] to King County Executive Ron Sims I am... [read more]
The unravelling of Dean Logan
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:59 AM, 86 Comments
Noon recess until 1:30pm. The first morning session ended with this cross-examination [exact words] --... [read more]
May 31, 2005
Nixon Impeached, Resignation Expected
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:54 PM, 25 Comments
It's Watergate deja vu day. First, Deep Throat is revealed. Next, a man named Nixon is impeached. That is to say the testimony of State Director of Elections Nixon "Nick" Handy was impeached. Nixon Handy is something of a funny... [read more]
Next witness
by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:04 PM, 11 Comments
(Retired) State Deputy Director of Elections John Pearson is on the stand. The feed is crapping out. Pearson will return as rebuttal witness later. Recess for the day. Resume tomorrow at 9am.... [read more]
Legal Analysis
by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:01 PM, 34 Comments
A legal expert, who knows some of the players in the trial, e-mailed some very interesting responses to some of my questions and observations about the trial (before today's proceedings). This is well worthwhile --... [read more]
Sideshow Bob
by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:54 PM, 51 Comments
Snohomish County Auditor "Sideshow" Bob Terwilliger is on the stand. Terwilliger also counted several hundred more ballots than voters, was unfamiliar with Secretary of State administrative rules for proper election conduct and drafted the idiotic letter from county auditors praising... [read more]
Foreman's cross resumes
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:21 PM, 102 Comments
Back from lunch. In order to show that Handy didn't know what he was talking about when he said that crediting doesn't need to be done prior to certifcation. Foreman reads to Handy from WAC 434-240-250 The special ballot shall... [read more]
Day Six
by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:21 AM, 108 Comments
Tan, rested and ready for litigation, day six of the trial starts at 9:30am. Watch it on TVW. Among today's witnesses for the Democrats: State Elections Director Nick Handy (presumably offering the opinions of his boss, Sam Reed) and King... [read more]
May 29, 2005
Prediction: election to be set aside
by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:40 PM, 97 Comments
I rarely make predictions, but I feel comfortable predicting today that Judge Bridges will set aside the election. Why do I think this? Because Bridges acknowledged that the existing statute and case law are insufficiently clear on how to handle... [read more]
4.6x10-34
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:31 PM, 42 Comments
is an approximate answer to the question "what is the likelihood that the distribution of King County's unexplained absentee ballots is attributable to chance?" This question arose in comments to my earlier posts (here and here) about the distribution of... [read more]
May 28, 2005
Echoes from the past (II)
by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:24 PM, 53 Comments
Christine Gregoire on January 5 there is absolutely no evidence – none whatsoever – to support Republicans' suggestions of major election errors or fraud. I guess it depends on the threshold for election errors being "major" election errors or "fraud",... [read more]
Statistical Exhibits
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:28 AM, 27 Comments
Here are some of the statistical exhibits presented in court last week by consultant Clark Bensen -- King County Absentee Balance Sheet. He got to the 875 discrepancy the same way that I did, updated for subsequently discovered uncounted ballots.... [read more]
Danny Westneat should be ashamed of himself, retract his bogus column immediately and publicly
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:26 AM, 71 Comments
The Seattle Times' Danny Westneat had a good loud rant in his column yesterday: "Shame on GOP for trial sham" Now that I've seen the evidence, there's no doubt in my mind Republicans ought to be ashamed of themselves. They've... [read more]
Echoes from the Past
by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:30 AM, 20 Comments
Christine Gregoire, December 21, 2004, calling for counting the Larry Phillips ballots that showed up near the end of the manual recount: "Government mistakes need to be corrected. And the purpose of the recount is precisely that: to correct mistakes.... [read more]
May 27, 2005
Another Own Goal!
by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:54 PM, 51 Comments
The trial is in recess for the long weekend. It resumes 9:30 Tuesday morning. It was nice to wrap up the week with another own goal. The Democrats went into their post-failure-to-get-summary-judgment-plan-B strategy to parade all of the other county... [read more]
Day Five
by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:27 AM, 79 Comments
Today's proceedings opened at 9:30. The TVW feed is pretty good today. Broke for 15min at 11:20am. Play-by-play of the morning session is in the extended entry.... [read more]
May 26, 2005
Tony Gill on the Stand
by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:11 PM, 35 Comments
The Republicans' next expert witness, Prof. Tony Gill is on the stand.... [read more]
Slam Reed
by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:09 PM, 13 Comments
The Secretary of State's attorney Jeff Even is a decent fellow, but he has the unenviable job of arguing Sam Reed's often silly positions in the election contest. One gets the impression that Reed thinks its more important to protect... [read more]
Afternoon Session
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:16 PM, 88 Comments
The trial is to resume at 1:30pm. I have to step out of the office for a bit. Keep us posted in the comments! (2:36pm) Okay, I'm back. The big deal was that Judge Bridges apparently followed his M.O., and... [read more]
Real journalists dropped the ball
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:22 PM, 13 Comments
This morning's reports by both Greg Roberts of the P-I and David Postman of the Times missed what is, in my opinion, the single most important bit of new information that has come out in the trial. I'm referring to... [read more]
It's in the P-I
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:08 AM, 23 Comments
The report on the trial from this morning's Seattle Post-Intelligencer The King County absentee-ballot report, which is not required by state law, was provided to the county canvassing board before it certified the initial tabulation of the Nov. 2 vote.... [read more]
Day Four
by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:01 AM, 72 Comments
The Republicans' statistical analyst Clark Benson is now on the stand. -- CalTech professor Jonathan Katz was just sworn in. Democrat lawyer David Burman throws a temper tantrum. "We want to know how these people voted. Don't look at that... [read more]
May 25, 2005
National Review Trial Coverage
by Jim Miller, 05:24 PM, 53 Comments
Peter Kirsanow, a member of the US Civil Rights Commission, has written this article for the National Review, summarizing the dispute, and the Republican claims. From a quick glance, I would say that it is a good summary, something you... [read more]
NO, we didn't always do it that way
by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:31 PM, 83 Comments
Durkan objected to Korrell's redirect on the Mail Ballot Report. Judge Bridges not only overruled the objection but thought the Mail Ballot Report was important enough that he insisted on interrogating Way from the bench. The most significant new revelation... [read more]
Durkan's Cross-examination of Way resumes
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:32 PM, 38 Comments
We're just back from lunch. Durkan (I paraphrase): you only have a couple of weeks to process 600,000 ballots and you don't have enough staff. Of course we should expect you to make enough mistakes to change the outcome of... [read more]
Ask a Justice
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:28 PM, 12 Comments
How might the State Supreme Court consider the inevitable appeal of Judge Bridges' ruling in the election contest? The best way to find out is to ask a (former) Supreme Court Justice. Mike Siegel had former Justice Phil Talmadge on... [read more]
Durkan's Cross-examination of Way
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:50 AM, 33 Comments
Nicole Way's demeanor has definitely changed for Jenny Durkan's cross-examination. A moment ago Durkan pointed out mistakes in the batchslip spreadsheet. The apparent subtext: the existence of mistakes in King County's recordkeeping should excuse them from correcting their mistakes in... [read more]
Trial Briefs
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:22 AM, 45 Comments
* The Seattle Times has a nice photo gallery from the trial. * KIRO-TV has an online poll: "Should there be a re-vote in the Washington governor's race?" 75% say yes * Question from a reader: I assume there is/was... [read more]
Way Off
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:28 AM, 31 Comments
Nicole Way seems like she's kind of ... off. Not exactly who you would want to put in charge of, say, counting 600,000 ballots. At least she appears to be a reasonably helpful and honest witness. This exchnage in the... [read more]
A fraud on the public
by Stefan Sharkansky, 07:30 AM, 22 Comments
The Times David Postman ended yesterday's live coverage with the headline "Day Two closes with no smoking gun" Testimony by Bill Huennekens, King County's elections superintendent, took up most of the day. There was no drama, and no smoking gun... [read more]
"King County ballot numbers don't add up"
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:48 AM, 17 Comments
In today's Seattle Times. Half a year after the closest governor's election in state history, King County officials still can't say for sure how many people voted Nov. 2 or, in many cases, who voted. In all, the county can't... [read more]
The Democrats' Case
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:24 AM, 15 Comments
Last Friday I posted the Republicans' Trial Brief, which summarizes their case for setting aside the election. Today I found the Democrats' Trial Brief, which summarizes their case for keeping Gregoire in office. They offer two alternative arguments. The first... [read more]
May 24, 2005
The Essence of the Huennekens Testimony
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:13 PM, 8 Comments
Bill Huennekens 6 hours on the witness stand is best summarized in this priceless 20-second exchange captured in this KING 5 TV report [at 1:00] Maguire: Does King County know the true number of absentee ballots that were returned for... [read more]
Huennekens (II)
by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:50 PM, 90 Comments
To summarize Huennekens' 1:30 - 2:55 testimony, he said (and I paraphrase) * "I have no idea what any of the documentation prepared by my staff means" * "I knew that there were all kinds of discrepancies with the polling... [read more]
Bill Huennekens on the stand
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:45 AM, 90 Comments
King County Superintendent of Elections Bill Huennekens is a live witness. * Rob Maguire asked Huennekens if he provided the canvassing board with any reports on provisional ballots. Advantage: Croker Sack! * Huennekens says he destroys any reports of felon... [read more]
Democrats dealt blow
by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:25 AM, 32 Comments
Judge Bridges just denied Democrats motion to exclude evidence that there were 875 more absentee ballots than absentee voters. Grounds: It's not a new claim, details based on new information that came up during depositions. At the same time, the... [read more]
Does David Postman Actually Believe This?
by Jim Miller, 09:14 AM, 21 Comments
That was the question that kept popping into my mind as I read through this piece in the Seattle Times. Much in the article is unobjectionable, but I kept running into odd chunks like this first paragraph: There likely would... [read more]
May 23, 2005
Two trials in one
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:16 PM, 23 Comments
The election contest trial is really two trials in one. On its face, of course, there's the legal trial. There's also the political trial, which is going on in parallel as a subtext to the legal trial, where each side... [read more]
Most Felons Are Democrats
by Jim Miller, 07:02 PM, 30 Comments
And since Democrats can be sensitive on this point, I will add immediately that the reverse is not true. Most Democrats are not felons. That most felons are Democrats is not a secret — but it does seem to be... [read more]
It's in the P-I
by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:22 PM, 37 Comments
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports "Setback for GOP in governor election trial": Republicans suffered a major blow today to their late-developing strategy to claim fraud in the 2004 governor's race when a judge said that claim cannot stand as a key... [read more]
Dan Brady is testifying
by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:06 PM, 9 Comments
The Sam Reed deposition skit is over. Dan Brady, who was also a lead GOP election observer, is being sworn in as a witness to testify on documentation of illegal votes.... [read more]
Courtroom Drama
by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:33 PM, 6 Comments
At this moment, Mark Braden and Dale Foreman are still going through the bizarre roleplay exercise to introduce Sam Reed's testimony by deposition into evidence. Braden is asking the questions. Foreman is reading Sam Reed's answers. I don't understand why... [read more]
Surreal Moment
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:55 PM, 28 Comments
The most surreal moment in the trail so far was watching Democrat lawyer Kevin Hamilton looking like a deer caught in the headlights arguing why the Republicans shouldn't be allowed to admit the evidence that King County counted 875 more... [read more]
Hamilton scores own goal
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:52 PM, 22 Comments
Democrat lawyer Kevin Hamilton scored an own goal. His attempted defense against the Republican allegation that there were 875 more absentee ballots than absentee voters was that the Republicans only relied on computer records and never counted the actual envelopes.... [read more]
No sh*t, Sherlock
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:30 PM, 16 Comments
The Seattle Times David Postman is posting live from the trial 9:44am: Republican attorney Dale Foreman is about 15 minutes into his opening statement and hasn't mentioned felons yet. Instead the Republican case is opening with a strong emphasis on... [read more]
The Greatest Show on Earth
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:11 AM, 22 Comments
The election contest is streaming live on TVW. The video is slow, due to heavy demand. Try the audio. It's also live on KVI 570. Republican Attorney Dale Foreman just gave an amazing opening statement. One of the best lines:... [read more]
May 22, 2005
Burden of Proof v. Standard of Proof
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:01 PM, 5 Comments
The Croker Sack blog explains the difference between "burden of proof" and "standard of proof", as those concepts apply to the election contest.... [read more]
More on the Times sloppy article about the felon vote
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:44 PM, 43 Comments
A volunteer researcher for the Rossi legal team e-mails: Today's article has my blood boiling, as I have spent the week at Davis Wright Tremaine helping Rossi's legal team identify and throw out a ton of felons from the Democrat's... [read more]
Shoddy Reporting at the Tacoma News Tribune
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:46 AM, 9 Comments
Today's TNT article about the election contest is not just another example of shoddy reporting. It's lazy, derivative shoddy reporting, just an unattributed repackaging of this week's howlingly weak article from the Seattle Weakly, complete with quotes from the same... [read more]
May 21, 2005
A conscious effort to throw the election to Gregoire
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:56 AM, 73 Comments
By now it's firmly established that King County Elections officials (1) violated state laws by failing to properly account for their absentee ballots, and (2) conspired to falsify ballot records in order to conceal this problem from the canvassing board... [read more]
Give Huennekens a Heineken
by Stefan Sharkansky, 08:56 AM, 24 Comments
King County's Superintendent of Elections Bill Huennekens could probably use a beer or two right now. It looks like Huennekens is the fall guy even more than Fell is the fall guy. Today's Seattle Times headline: "Manager aware of flawed... [read more]
May 20, 2005
Petitioners' Trial Brief
by Stefan Sharkansky, 07:52 PM, 26 Comments
Posted here is the 63-page Petitioners' Trial Brief in Borders v King County et al... [read more]
Public Opinion
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:42 PM, 52 Comments
From the StrategicVision Poll of Washington voters conducted May 15 - 17 1. Regardless of who you voted for in November's gubernatorial election, who do you believe actually won the gubernatorial election, Democrat Christine Gregoire or Republican Dino Rossi? Christine... [read more]
Fraud
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:10 AM, 47 Comments
When Judge Bridge's May 2 ruling was released, Olympia attorney Shawn Newman wrote that "Overall, my professional opinion is that Rossi's team is in trouble" [details in his 9:13pm comment on this post]. Newman has now revised his forecast substantially... [read more]
May 19, 2005
Howling Weakly
by Stefan Sharkansky, 06:48 PM, 49 Comments
I recently had the pleasure of meeting George Howland, Jr. of the Seattle Weakly. He's a pleasant enough fellow, but his article on the election contest this week is one of the silliest things yet put to paper on the... [read more]
Seeing Double
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:58 PM, 33 Comments
It's been known for a while that some number of King County's unverified provisional ballots that went into the AccuVote were cast by double voters. It turns out that the number of double voters is significantly higher than what King... [read more]
Sam Reed on Dori Monson
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:19 AM, 28 Comments
Sam Reed will be on Dori Monson's show (710 KIRO) today at noon, talking about the latest revelations from King County Elections. Based on what he said in his deposition, it won't be terribly complimentary. UPDATE: Paul Berendt will also... [read more]
Is A False Election Report Fraud?
by Jim Miller, 05:42 AM, 99 Comments
A deliberately false election report? King County's absentee-ballot supervisor has testified that she collaborated with her boss when she filled out a report that falsely showed all ballots were accounted for in the November election. Nicole Way said in a... [read more]
May 18, 2005
Fraud
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:27 PM, 91 Comments
The Republicans are now alleging that outright fraud occurred in King County in the November 2004 election. The Democrats can't defend Ron Sims' indefensible Elections office, so, as usual, they're making stuff up: "It seems like the Republicans are scrambling... [read more]
May 17, 2005
Chris Vance News Conference
by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:14 PM, 38 Comments
An outline of Chris Vance's news conference today: * There were so many errors made by King County election officials that it is impossible to rule out the possibility that votes were fraudulently added or subtracted from this election, and... [read more]
May 13, 2005
Call in the Feds
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:45 AM, 42 Comments
U.S. Attorney John McKay was on the John Carlson Show Monday, dancing around to avoid explaining why his office is not investigating the King County Elections fraud scandal, as the U.S. Attorney in Milwaukee is investigating the election fraud in... [read more]
May 11, 2005
State law requires...
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:08 AM, 40 Comments
Even as the Democrat Party and its spokesmen at the lunatic fringe blogs and editorial boards fixate on the issue of felon voters, there is an awful lot more to the election contest than proportional deduction of felon votes. After... [read more]
May 07, 2005
Third-Rate Law School Awards Prize for Fraudulent Election
by Stefan Sharkansky, 08:29 AM, 46 Comments
Gonzaga University Law School, ranked as a "Tier 3" school, today awards Secretary of State Sam Reed the Gonzaga University School of Law Medal, the school's highest honor. "Reed has shown exemplary character and legal judgment during the ongoing political... [read more]
May 06, 2005
Transcript of Judge Bridges Rulings
by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:59 PM, 33 Comments
Here is the full transcript of Judge Bridges' rulings from Monday.... [read more]
Kirkland Campaign Rally
by Jim Miller, 01:26 PM, 25 Comments
This morning I went to a campaign rally in downtown Kirkland. Governor Gregoire came to my suburb to sign environmental bills, or, as I would say, "environmental" bills. Nearly everyone there (perhaps 150 people all together) was a Democratic official,... [read more]
Seattle Times (Accidentally) Argues for Rossi
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:00 PM, 4 Comments
Today's Seattle Times unsigned editorial appears to be trying to throw cold water on the election contest: "The heavy burden for Republicans" Republicans hoping to overturn the election of Gov. Christine Gregoire have a steep mountain to climb because they... [read more]
Democrats Help Prove Rossi's Case (Update)
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:52 PM, 5 Comments
More on the Democrats' "smoking gun" claim that they found 1,939 improperly counted provisional ballots in counties other than King. All but three of those counties went for Rossi in the manual recount. As I mentioned yesterday, the county auditors... [read more]
May 05, 2005
Democrats help Rossi prove case (II)
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:43 PM, 44 Comments
The Washington Democrats excitedly posted this "article" on their website last week: "EVIDENCE SHOWS THAT EVEN UNDER ROSSI’S THEORY, GREGOIRE WINS". The evidence is so good, they're not even telling us what it is! The Democrats' secret weapon on the... [read more]
King County Canvassing Board
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:36 AM, 26 Comments
I recently asked the other members of the King County Canvassing Board to comment on Dean Logan's deposition -- specificially on the admission that Logan and election staff knew about significant numbers of irregularities that they didn't disclose to... [read more]
May 04, 2005
Logan Deposition (VII)
by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:03 PM, 26 Comments
From Dean Logan's deposition, p. 224 - 225: Q: Have you ever said that state-wide, you know, I think that perhaps we'll never know the answer to that because of it being as close as it is? THE WITNESS: I... [read more]
Proportional Analysis
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:59 AM, 37 Comments
Some of the region's dopiest commentators are having a hard time grasping the concept of proportional analysis of invalid votes in the governor's race (e.g. Ken Schram, the P-I editorial board, the usual suspects at the lunatic fringe blogs). But... [read more]
May 03, 2005
Huennekens Deposition (II)
by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:25 PM, 55 Comments
This exchange in the Bill Huennekens deposition crystallizes the central problem with King County's handling of the November 2004 election. p. 93 - 95: Q When Ms. Sanchez said to you words or substance that there were widespread problems, or... [read more]
Huennekens Deposition (I)
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:44 PM, 9 Comments
I've been reading the Bill Huennekens deposition transcript. Lots of good stuff. pp. 103 - 160 takes us back to Precinct 1823, where hundreds of people are registered to vote at the King County Administration Building. The deposition pertains to... [read more]
What, me worry?
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:34 AM, 31 Comments
Alfred E. NeumannFormer Attorney General Gregoire A certain former Attorney General who campaigned on a promise not to raise taxes and believes she won some kind of a model election, nervously tells a TV reporter that she's too busy... [read more]
May 02, 2005
Judge rules in Republicans favor in election challenge
by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:44 AM, 44 Comments
This just in -- Republicans have won a victory in their challenge to the election of Washington Governor Christine Gregoire. Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges said Republicans will be allowed to use "proportional analysis" to prove their case... [read more]
April 30, 2005
Democrats help Rossi prove case
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:14 AM, 68 Comments
"Democrats claim GOP skipped 432 felon voters" Democrats said yesterday that they've found 432 felons who appear to have voted illegally in November but were ignored by Republicans in their legal challenge to the governor's election. Finally, the Democrats are... [read more]
April 29, 2005
Huennekens Deposition
by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:23 PM, 27 Comments
Bill Huennekens deposition is posted here. (456 pages) So fresh I haven't had a chance to look at it much, but do check out p. 88 When did you, Mr. Huennekens, learn for the first time that unverified provisional ballots... [read more]
Logan Deposition (VI)
by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:46 PM, 6 Comments
Deposition, p. 130-131 Q When a person casts a poll ballot and also casts an absentee ballot, how does an election official know that one of those ballots has already been processed or counted? A Well, again, if they're an... [read more]
Logan Deposition (V)
by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:23 PM, 1 Comments
More highlights from Dean Logan's deposition. The one thing that I did get wrong in my summary of Chris Vance's remarks before the official transcripts was released was this: polling place inspectors (who were appointed by the Democrat Party this... [read more]
Secretary of State re: non-citizen votes
by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:24 PM, 8 Comments
The other day I remarked on legal motions filed by the Democrats and the Secretary of State's office that would exclude non-citizen votes from being counted as illegal votes for the purpose of the election contest. The Secretary of State's... [read more]
Logan Deposition (IV)
by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:01 PM, 5 Comments
Dean Logan, in his deposition, finally gives credit where credit is due. p. 32 Q Okay. So you use signatures from poll books to credit individuals with voting? A To credit the individuals whose names are listed in the poll... [read more]
April 28, 2005
The Endless effluvium
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:54 PM, 35 Comments
Like Mount St. Helens, the various county election departments keep spewing forth an endless stream of reports on errors and improprieties. Pierce County Auditor Pat McCarthy admitted under oath yesterday that her department screwed up in November, leaving 50 uncounted... [read more]
More likely double voters found
by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:13 PM, 46 Comments
I just sent a list of 27 cases of likely double voters to the King County Prosecutor's office. I produced the list by querying the voter registration file and absentee ballot file for cases where there were multiple people with... [read more]
April 27, 2005
Logan Deposition (III)
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:54 AM, 44 Comments
RCW 29A.40.110 The tabulation of absentee ballots must not commence until after 8:00 p.m. on the day of the primary or election. Logan deposition transcript, p. 77: We start counting -- actually tabulating absentee ballots beginning at 7:00 o'clock in... [read more]
Gibberish
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:03 AM, 31 Comments
Dino Rossi: "Confident Judge Will Throw Out Nov. 2 Election" Rossi made the comments after releasing a 476 page transcript of the deposition of King County Elections Director Dean Logan. ... He told KOMO 4 News: "It's becoming clear now... [read more]
Sam Reed: non-citizen votes should stand
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:24 AM, 58 Comments
I couldn't find the Democrats' original motion, but this Republican response shows that the Democrats filed to exclude any non-citizen votes from the tally of illegal votes in the election contest, unless the non-citizens were challenged before the election. Secretary... [read more]
Logan Deposition (II)
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:48 AM, 13 Comments
More curiosities from Dean Logan's deposition transcript. p. 133 Q: Do you know whether King County counted any ballots cast by individuals who voted more than once? A: I'm not aware of specific cases of that, no. Hmm. One of... [read more]
April 26, 2005
Logan Deposition (I)
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:28 AM, 67 Comments
Okay, I've now read the entire 436 page transcript of Dean Logan's deposition. Lots of damning admissions. I'll post a few of the highlights in between tending to other business. One of the most serious admissions is that Logan was... [read more]
April 25, 2005
What explains the meltdown at the polls?
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:02 PM, 24 Comments
As I've documented on many occasions there was an unprecedented meltdown at King County polling places last November: hundreds of unverified provisional ballots that went through the Accuvotes; hundreds of absentee voters who showed up at the polls and... [read more]
April 23, 2005
It's in the P-I
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:33 AM, 70 Comments
Today's headline in the Seattle Post-"Intelligence"r about the astonishing admissions of official errors, rule violations and outright fraud in King County Elections: "Pierce had vote foul-up, too". Why is it that every time the P-I writes a story about King... [read more]
April 22, 2005
More on the Depositions
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:01 AM, 99 Comments
I just spoke with Chris Vance. He's not yet able to release the actual deposition transcripts until the court reporter issues a clean, proofread and redacted copy on Monday. In the meantime, he is able to characterize the essence of... [read more]
Election was fraudently certified
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:42 AM, 69 Comments
Here's yet another indication that election officials commited fraud in the November election. Dean Logan admitted in his deposition on Monday that he knew that provisional ballots went into the Accuvote machine before he certified the election. Never mind the... [read more]
April 18, 2005
King County's Absentee Ballot Audit Trail is a load of rubbish
by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:08 PM, 34 Comments
The file that King County Elections gave me in fulfillment of my request for the "Absentee Ballot Audit Trail" is a complete mess. The Audit Trail is required by WAC 434-240-270 and is supposed to account for every absentee ballot... [read more]
Dean Logan, in his own words
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:45 PM, 21 Comments
In honor of Dean Logan's deposition today, I'm posting a video clip of Dean Logan's opening statement to the canvassing board on December 15, during the manual recount. Some of my favorite quotes: 4:34 it's important to point out that... [read more]
King County Unlawfully Counted Provisional Ballots Too Soon
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:34 AM, 26 Comments
I'll be posting more revelations later from the Absentee Ballot "Audit Trail" that King County released on Friday. On interesting find is confirmation that King County counted its provisional ballots too early in the canvassing process, in violation of state... [read more]
April 16, 2005
Absentee Ballot Audit Trail is Sadly Incomplete
by Stefan Sharkansky, 08:59 AM, 98 Comments
King County Elections finally gave me a version of an Absentee Ballot Audit Trail yesterday afternoon. The purpose of the audit trail is to account for all absentee ballots that are issued. Sadly, the file I was given is short... [read more]
April 14, 2005
Did a Dead Man's Provisional Ballot Go Through the AccuVote?
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:29 PM, 6 Comments
I was going through King County's documentation that attempts to explain the "348" (actually more than 348) unverified provisionals that went through the AccuVote machines. Here is the summary page from the Snoqualmie Elementary School polling place [click for larger... [read more]
Re-batch
by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:45 PM, 18 Comments
To answer Micajah's question posed in a comment on the earlier post about King County's Batch Slip Spreadsheet [1MB zip]: It looks as though the number of absentee ballots returned was something more than 583,144 (571,284 from the "original count"... [read more]
Batch Slip-Up
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:43 PM, 37 Comments
King County's absentee ballot "batch slips" are documentary evidence that the ballot accounting problems were so severe that we'll probably never really know how many valid ballots were actually processed. Even though King County Elections is stonewalling me on the... [read more]
Dean Logan's Last Town Hall Meeting
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:38 PM, 7 Comments
Tonight appears to be Dean Logan's last town hall meeting for a while: Seattle First Baptist Church Thursday, April 14 at 7 p.m. 1111 Harvard Ave. Seattle, WA 98122 The League of Women Voters originally scheduled two more such town... [read more]
Delay, Evade, Obfuscate
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:59 AM, 39 Comments
I went to the King County Elections office yesterday afternoon to pick up some documents and data files in response to my public records requests. The thing I'm chasing down at the moment is the discrepancy of the nearly 900... [read more]
Justice in Motion
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:29 AM, 24 Comments
The P-I reports that "Court briefs filed over disputed governor's election". Here are the two Republican motions: 1. "PETITIONERS' MOTION TO CLARIFY BURDEN OF PROOF REGARDING ILLEGAL VOTES" 2. "PETITIONERS' MOTION IN LIMINE TO EXCLUDE EVIDENCE CONCERNING PREVIOUSL Y REJECTED... [read more]
April 13, 2005
Batch Slip
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:56 PM, 52 Comments
From the 2000 election debacle in Florida, the term "hanging chad" entered the lexicon. In the King County election debacle 2004/5, we get the term "batch slip". A batch slip is a small slip of paper that is used to... [read more]
April 12, 2005
Election Townhall Traveling Show
by Ron Hebron, 10:42 PM, 12 Comments
The townhall meeting in Shoreline was sponsored by King County Council rep Carolyn Edmonds and the League of Women Voters. Council rep Bob Ferguson was in the audience. Attendance was at least 200. It was tightly structured to the chagrin... [read more]
Voted Twice?
by Stefan Sharkansky, 06:04 PM, 34 Comments
I found this provisional ballot page in the stack of documents about the "348" (actually it was more than 348) unverified provisional ballots that went through the AccuVote. It appears that the voter listed at the top of the page... [read more]
It's all there in the database
by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:45 PM, 5 Comments
This picture, which is from a screenshot of a voter database screen that I found in some documents this afternoon, demonstrates that King County Elections really does maintain the Absentee Ballot Audit Trail that I've been talking about for the... [read more]
Update on Yana Khrapko
by Brian Crouch, 03:10 PM, 24 Comments
Republican Radio is hosting a webpage for information on the case and for raising funds for legal support for Yana and her mom. They were put in INS detention last month just before Easter (full story here). There is hope,... [read more]
More spelunking through public records
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:22 PM, 11 Comments
King County Elections has scheduled the release of some of the outstanding documents from my public disclosure requests. This afternoon I'll review the following: * documentation on the 348 provisional ballots that were originally identified as having gone through the... [read more]
New Timeline in Draft
by Brian Crouch, 11:47 AM, 4 Comments
By popular demand: I will be compiling a new Election Contest timeline soon. The earlier timelines covered the election fiasco from November through Jan. 20th, and the GOP/ Rossi campaign filing of the lawsuit. This should prove useful for reference... [read more]
April 10, 2005
John Fund on WA state
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:15 PM, 46 Comments
WSJ's John Fund gives an update on our homestate elections mess in Monday's column: "Florida With Rain"... [read more]
A prophetic press release
by Stefan Sharkansky, 06:17 PM, 17 Comments
I just stumbled across this one. A King County Elections press release of Nov. 3, 2004, titled: "Absentee ballot count may tip scale on close races" Surely they didn't know at the time just how presicent that title would be.... [read more]
Meet Dean Logan in Shoreline on Tuesday
by Ron Hebron, 06:11 PM, 13 Comments
My King County council person has been very quiet during the election kerfuffle; I mean silent. Now Carolyn Edmonds states that she is "committed to ensuring a secure, trusted, accountable elections system" and has invited Dean Logan and the League... [read more]
April 09, 2005
Golden Easter Egg
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:43 AM, 52 Comments
Here's a fascinating discovery buried in King County's otherwise deadly boring comprehensive report of the (then) 93 uncounted absentee ballots: a careful read shows that there are a bunch more numerical discrepancies waiting to be explained, suggesting the existence of... [read more]
April 08, 2005
Call in the Feds
by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:59 PM, 82 Comments
The Evergreen Freedom Foundation has sent this letter to Attorney General Gonzales asking for a DoJ investigation into King County Elections. The EFF also sent this e-mail to Norm Maleng requesting a state investigation: We are requesting that you request... [read more]
King County finds another ballot!
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:37 PM, 44 Comments
No, really: Another uncounted absentee ballot has been discovered in KIng County, as Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed is talking with King County officials about a possible state review of county election operations. Four elections workers have already been... [read more]
Does This Column Make Any Sense?
by Jim Miller, 07:31 AM, 82 Comments
When I saw the quotes at Orbusmax from this Robert Jamieson column, I thought it was an all out attack on those who want an accurate vote tally in King County. And it is, as you can see from the... [read more]
April 07, 2005
Public Non-disclosure
by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:37 PM, 30 Comments
Now that King County Elections has confirmed that the reconciliation reports it gave to the canvassing board were fake, it's time to press on to get the rest of the absentee ballot documentation that should explain the discrepancy of nearly... [read more]
Oops
by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:36 PM, 9 Comments
As Richard Pope pointed out in the comments on an earlier post (damn, he's got a good eye for detail), I made a small numerical error. The best available data now puts the discrepancy between absentee ballots counted and valid... [read more]
An Enron-style Election
by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:34 PM, 9 Comments
My column for this week's The Stranger is now online. Unfortunately, they had to bump it from the print version due to other breaking news. But it's right here for your pleasure. And also be sure to check out this... [read more]
Give us a corrected Mail Ballot Report
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:48 PM, 25 Comments
King County Councilman Steve Hammond has written a letter to Dean Logan calling on him to issue an updated Mail Ballot Report that correctly reconciles all absentee ballots returned, counted and rejected. Such a report would be very interesting indeed.... [read more]
"Conny" is a good nickname for a conwoman
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:11 PM, 16 Comments
In today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer: "Gorton rips county election officials". But Conny thinks they're fabulous: support for [Dean Logan] came yesterday from Conny McCormack, his counterpart in Los Angeles County, Calif., who has worked with Logan in national organizations of election... [read more]
Bombshell: King County admits the Mail Ballot Report is bogus
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:17 AM, 103 Comments
In Thursday's Seattle Times, King County admits that the Mail Ballot Report is bogus: King County election officials said a key document accounting for absentee ballots in the November election was so flawed it was virtually meaningless. The Mail Ballot... [read more]
King County's Internal Report
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:16 AM, 8 Comments
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)... [read more]
April 06, 2005
That was the wrong ballot to lose
by Brian Crouch, 07:34 PM, 39 Comments
Thanks to Stefan's trusty voter database, most Washingtonians can quickly check to see if their ballot was counted in the last election, a resource that King County itself has not provided directly. Lt. Bryan Suits, recently home from combat in... [read more]
Drive A Mile In My Car, Jenny
by Matt Rosenberg, 11:38 AM, 53 Comments
In the face of widespread irregularities, Democrats want illegal votes found through Dino Rossi's contested gubernatorial election lawsuit to be deducted from Rossi or current Governor Christine Gregoire based on an impossible-to-administer, after-the-fact determination regarding for which candidate each illegal... [read more]
Stage set for Logan's resignation
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:24 AM, 20 Comments
We now have recent on-the-record statements from both Ron Sims and Dean Logan which pretty much commit them both to Logan's resignation. From this morning's Seattle Times article about the latest mess in King County Elections: Sims, who has generally... [read more]
"Mail Ballot Report" enters the big leagues
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:04 AM, 19 Comments
As I wrote on Monday, King County's recent discovery of the 93 previously unaccounted-for absentee ballots proves that the "Mail Ballot Report" that was presented to the canvassing board was a fraud. Today's Seattle Times also reports on this: an... [read more]
April 05, 2005
Uh, state officials are aware of documented cases of non-citizens who voted
by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:06 AM, 58 Comments
This morning's Seattle Times editorial -- "A nasty turn in election challenge" -- criticizes Martin Ringhofer for challenging hundreds of voter registrations of people with foreign-sounding names, under the theory that some of them might not be citizens. Ringhofer's scheme... [read more]
Uncounted ballots discovered in Pierce County
by Stefan Sharkansky, 07:22 AM, 25 Comments
Pierce County auditor says ‘small number’ surfaced in records check Pierce County election workers have discovered “a small number” of ballots that were not counted in the disputed November election. County Auditor Pat McCarthy, who oversees the county’s election system,... [read more]
April 04, 2005
F-word, again
by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:04 PM, 20 Comments
Friday's e-mail from King County attorney Don Porter about the allegedly uncounted absentee ballots effectively admits that somebody on Dean Logan's staff must have committed fraud. Check out the Mail Ballot Report that was presented to the canvassing board prior... [read more]
Reagan Dunn: Logan Done
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:00 AM, 32 Comments
King County Councilman Reagan Dunn has called on Dean Logan to resign.... [read more]
April 03, 2005
The latest on the new 48 87 93 Magical Mystery Ballots
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:13 PM, 29 Comments
King County issued a press release over the weekend reporting that the total number of recently discovered untabulated absentee ballots is 93. Intriguingly, these new ballots would be expected to add to Rossi's lead. Although the release doesn't explicitly state... [read more]
April 01, 2005
87 unopened absentee ballots discovered at King County Elections
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:36 PM, 77 Comments
You read it here first, and the P-I now has the story. UPDATE: Richard Pope in the comments beat me to this critical part of the report: the newfound ballots were still sealed in the security envelopes within the outer... [read more]
Not an April Fools Joke
by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:57 PM, 25 Comments
It just hit the fan that King County Elections recently discovered several dozen uncounted ballots at an elections office, presumably the MBOS absentee ballot facility. Senior election officials have known about this for several days and have kept it under... [read more]
Last night's town hall meeting
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:58 PM, 16 Comments
I'm working my way through my videotape of last night's Julia Patterson Election Reform Town Hall Meeting in Kent, featuring Sam Reed and Dean Logan. Jim Miller now has a longer analysis posted. I'll just transcribe interesting quotes in real... [read more]
Democrats agree with Rossi: Election was a total mess
by Stefan Sharkansky, 08:53 AM, 17 Comments
Nice to see that the Democrats now agree with Dino Rossi that "This election has been a total mess". We read in today's P-I that "Four counties admit voting mix-ups" Hundreds of votes were improperly counted in the November election... [read more]
March 30, 2005
The canvassing board had to have known it certified a bunch of crap
by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:02 PM, 35 Comments
I don't know how many more smoking guns we need to show that King County officials certified the election even though they had to have known that something was seriously wrong. But here's another smoking gun. From a set of... [read more]
Rebuilding Public Trust
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:35 PM, 31 Comments
Dean Logan wrote this letter in response to King County Council Republicans' criticism of Ron Sims "State of the County" speech. His main points seem to be that (1) he really wants a new building for the elections department, and... [read more]
Voting is not supposed to be on the "honor system"
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:44 AM, 14 Comments
State law (RCW 29A.84.010) seems to make clear that county election officials have an obligation to report fraudulent registration and voting irregularities to the county prosecutor "without delay". Nevertheless, King County Elections doesn't seem to follow this law. It's consistent... [read more]
March 29, 2005
And he claims to have access to Speaker Chopp
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:25 AM, 54 Comments
KING 5 has a video update on Alan Martin, the disbarred lawyer/convicted felon/Democrat campaign consultant who voted in Thurston County in November. As the report reveals, Martin was recently a paid campaign consultant to unsuccessful primary candidate Margaret Holm, the... [read more]
March 28, 2005
Canvassing Board Tapes
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:32 PM, 8 Comments
I want to get back to this issue which was briefly discussed a couple of weeks ago -- King County agreed to release all recordings of the post-election canvassing board meetings -- a total of 7 audio tapes (90 min.... [read more]
F-word
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:05 PM, 53 Comments
In spite of all the troubling irregularities that keep surfacing about King County's handling of the November election, I've been reluctant to allege that county officials committed fraud. Certainly I've never seen evidence of, say, actual ballot stuffing. But in... [read more]
March 25, 2005
How ironic
by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:22 PM, 50 Comments
Buried in the Democrats' filing for today's hearing [large PDF] is this tidbit, complaining about King County Elections' lack of response to the Democrats' document requests: [Hamilton Declaration p. 5, #9] After the filing and scrutiny associated with this election,... [read more]
More Weird Numbers That Just Don't Add Up
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:28 PM, 21 Comments
Among the exhibits in the Democrats' brief for today's election contest hearing is the "Provisional Ballot Summary Report" that was presented to the canvassing board for certifying the first count on November 17. Compare November's "Final Report" with the... [read more]
FLASH: Election Contest Update
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:19 PM, 16 Comments
State GOP Chairman Chris Vance just posted the following comment on an earlier post regarding today's court hearing: The judge set the depositions [of Dean Logan and Bill Huennekens] for the week of April 18. He will hold a... [read more]
Stonewall Logan
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:04 AM, 11 Comments
There's a hearing (by conference call) in the election contest today where Judge Bridges is considering briefs on the schedule for deposing Dean Logan and Bill Huennekens. Some briefs that were filed for today's hearing (links at the end of... [read more]
March 24, 2005
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:37 PM, 19 Comments
Recall that King County discovered and counted 226 brand new absentee ballots during the machine and manual recounts and for which there has never been an adequate explanation. Where could these mysterious ballots have come from? Credible reports point to... [read more]
Did King County illegally count its provisional ballots?
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:06 PM, 24 Comments
News releases from King County Elections in November suggest that the county prematurely counted provisional ballots in violation of state election rules. See, for example, this announcement of Nov. 10 King County Elections today counted 20,839 ballots, which includes 1,978... [read more]
March 23, 2005
Absentee Ballot Mystery Deepens
by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:15 PM, 19 Comments
More numbers released by King County Elections that don't add up. This is yet another indication that the discrepancy of 780 more absentee ballots counted than absentee voters may well be attributable to bogus ballots and also that King County... [read more]
Latest Poll Results
by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:34 PM, 38 Comments
A brand new poll from Strategic Vision: The poll found that a 56% of respondents believe Republican Dino Rossi was the actual winner of November's election; 36% believe Democrat Christine Gregoire was the winner; and 8% were undecided. However, only... [read more]
The Felon Vote
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:52 AM, 24 Comments
Not all felon voters are violent criminals. Some of them are Democrat activists. A disbarred attorney with a long history on both sides of the law and politics is now among those being investigated for casting an illegal vote because... [read more]
Absentee Ballot Mystery
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:04 AM, 8 Comments
Another interesting tidbit related to the mystery of King County's 780 absentee ballots counted in excess of absentee voters. Prior to the first certification, the county issued daily reports with the running totals of absentee ballots counted. The last such... [read more]
March 22, 2005
Absentee Ballot Audit Trail
by Stefan Sharkansky, 06:54 PM, 16 Comments
Now that King County's "Big Binder" has shown that the county's reconciliation of polling place ballots is an irreconciliable mess, the next thing to look at is the groaning discrepancy in absentee ballots, which the latest numbers put at 780... [read more]
An irreconcilable mess
by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:24 PM, 16 Comments
After going through the "Big Binder" and summary documents and poring over dozens of poll books, my conclusion is that the polling place ballots are an irreconcilable mess. I've created this spreadsheet to summarize the Binder documents [see the extended... [read more]
"Front End Election Security"
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:30 AM, 16 Comments
Here is another tale in "front end election security", as per Dean Logan State election laws address ballot security and accountability on the front end of the elections process - at the polls, in ballot counting centers and throughout the... [read more]
Checking Signatures
by Jim Miller, 06:34 AM, 44 Comments
There's an entertaining thread at Slashdot on credit card signatures. Clerks often fail at checking those signatures, as many of you probably know from your own experience. Read some of the examples and then consider this question: How do... [read more]
March 21, 2005
The fiction of the "348 provisional ballots"
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:50 AM, 24 Comments
Even back in January when King County Elections officials announced that they knew about "up to 348" unverified provisional ballots that went through the AccuVote machines, and later hedged in the February "comprehensive report", saying that "348 provisional ballots were... [read more]
March 20, 2005
All in the family
by Stefan Sharkansky, 06:04 PM, 23 Comments
County auditors from around the state are again circling the wagons and, quite frankly, lying to the public in a shameless attempt to defend the mistakes made by King County Elections. This letter [look what my new scanner can do,... [read more]
March 19, 2005
Democrats: Election was a mess, don't really know who won
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:32 AM, 25 Comments
In yesterday's P-I we learn that the Democrats aren't feeling very confident of Gregoire's margin of "victory" and are so desperate to increase it that they're trolling through the provisional ballots that King County rejected -- "Democrats still looking for... [read more]
March 18, 2005
Credit where credit is due
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:20 AM, 10 Comments
People who are familiar with the elections process explain what probably caused King County Elections to count roughly 500 more absentee ballots than absentee voters credited. First, there is absolutely no way for there to be more absentee ballots counted... [read more]
March 17, 2005
Birthday Suit
by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:23 PM, 11 Comments
The first hearing in the case of Sharkansky v. Reed will be held before Judge Richard Hicks [scroll down] in Thurston County Superior Court, tomorrow, Friday, March 18, 2005. To recap, I'm suing the Secretary of State under the Public... [read more]
Election Contest Update
by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:03 PM, 78 Comments
The Rossi campaign released this update todayAs you know, Washington state gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi filed an election contest in January. This memo will update you on what has happened in the past two months, and what we expect to... [read more]
Provisionals were a much bigger problem in 2004 than in the past
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:01 AM, 48 Comments
Here are some files from the King County archives that illustrate how different the situation with provisional ballots was in 2004 vs. the 3 general elections before Dean Logan came on board. 1) "Special Ballot Summary Reports" (provisional ballots used... [read more]
March 16, 2005
927 Unverified Provisionals
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:30 PM, 56 Comments
As best as I can tell, the number of unverified provisional ballots that went through the Accuvote machines in King County was about 927. I gather this from going through the Binder source documents and the companion "Notes file", which... [read more]
"The security is on the front end"
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:44 AM, 8 Comments
Dean Logan, Sam Reed and our other underperforming election officials have been telling us for months now that the ballot/voter discrepancy shouldn't matter. There is no need to have accounting checks in place to ensure integrity because (from Logan's... [read more]
How Can You Tell When A Local Democratic Official Is In The Wrong?
by Jim Miller, 07:23 AM, 17 Comments
They appear on the Dave Ross show. All right that's unfair, but we can say that, if a local Democratic official is in the wrong, they will almost certainly appear on the Dave Ross show, where he will protect... [read more]
March 15, 2005
Reconciliation appears to be difficult by design
by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:19 PM, 22 Comments
I've been going through the Binder documents and summary spreadsheets in an attempt to reconcile the ballot counts with the county's latest informatoin, but the information that has been provided almost seems as if it's designed to impede rather than... [read more]
March 12, 2005
Binder Snowjob
by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:10 AM, 35 Comments
I think I figured out why King County was holding out for so long to release The Binder. They were creating a bunch of companion documents to "explain" the raw source documents to the public. The source documents in The... [read more]
March 11, 2005
Binder Bombshell
by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:33 PM, 61 Comments
The "Big Binder" has finally been released. It confirms that the numbers don't nearly add up and that hundreds more unverified provisional ballots went into the ballot machines than previously acknowledged. The county's summary worksheets and explanatory documents try to... [read more]
Flash: "The Binder" to be released this afternoon
by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:29 AM, 24 Comments
King County Elections spokeswoman Bobbie Egan e-mails: Responsive documents for #5 of your Public Disclosure Request dated 2/22/05 will be available today. We'll have copies of the summary and "notes" spreadsheet and the polling place reconciliation binder available for purchase... [read more]
March 10, 2005
Bothell Regional Library
by Stefan Sharkansky, 06:10 PM, 68 Comments
The Bothell Regional Library polling place counted a net 30 more ballots than voters. The election worker's note on this polling book cover explains what happened: 31 "no labels" went through Accuvote That's election official slang for "unverified provisionals were... [read more]
Truth Held Hostage: Day 12
by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:48 PM, 13 Comments
I spent a good part of today at the King County Elections office looking at pollbooks. Oy, what a mess. More on this later. I also asked again to see The Infamous Binder with the precinct reconciliation reports. Still no... [read more]
March 09, 2005
The Larry Phillips Ballots Revisited
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:03 AM, 12 Comments
One of the biggest controversies of the election last year were the 720+ absentee ballots in King County that were ruled to have been improperly rejected by election officials because the voters' signatures were not in the computer database. As... [read more]
March 08, 2005
Non-citizens voted in King County
by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:20 PM, 82 Comments
At least two non-citizens voted in King County in November, according to county records. Chun C Chen of 7th Ave NE, Seattle and Ming Y Anderson of 6th Ave S, Seattle are listed in the Dec. 29 and Jan. 7... [read more]
We Won't Investigate The Election
by Jim Miller, 05:18 PM, 34 Comments
And you shouldn't either. Like Stefan Sharkansky, just below, I found the message in this Seattle Times editorial appalling. The wrong person now sits in the governor's mansion in Olympia. There is strong evidence for fraud and mismanagement even in... [read more]
Truth held hostage: Day 10
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:12 AM, 31 Comments
King County Elections sent me a formal response to my public disclosure request late Monday afternoon. Some of the documents I requested will be available today. But the county says it will continue to conceal the most important information, the... [read more]
March 07, 2005
Smoking Gun
by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:57 PM, 63 Comments
This is a smoking gun that something went very seriously amiss in King County Elections during the canvassing and recounts last year. In partial fulfillment of my public records request, King County released this "Mail Ballot Report". It doesn't carry... [read more]
Truth held hostage: Day 9
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:37 PM, 42 Comments
Today's update on King County's magical binder of precinct-by-precinct reconciliation worksheets, which the lunatic-fringe blogs tell us are "sitting down there at KC Elections for anybody to inspect". The punchline is: the lunatic-fringe bloggers are living in a sick fantasy... [read more]
The discrepancy widens
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:15 AM, 83 Comments
Saturday's P-I brought us this outlandishly biased article -- "Democrats charge GOP list of 'illegal' votes full of errors". It's fair for the Democrats to dispute the names that are on the list in error. But the real story should... [read more]
March 04, 2005
Gregoiretoons
by Timothy Goddard, 11:04 PM, 20 Comments
Larry Countryman, the Snohomish City Councilman who graced us with a similar cartoon a couple months ago, has now passed on a whole slew of Gregoiretoons that are worth checking out. Check out the rest over at The Flag... [read more]
Evergreen Election Report
by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:31 PM, 32 Comments
The Evergreen Freedom Foundation has released its Analysis of the 2004 Governor's Election. Ignore the crap from the former Attorney General's "Task Force on Symbolic Gestures Designed to Bamboozle the Citizens Into Thinking They're Getting Election Reform". The EFF's report... [read more]
Best Numbers Yet on the King County Discrepancy!
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:16 PM, 71 Comments
I've revised my analysis of the King County vote discrepancy, based on some slightly improved source data files. The differences from my earlier analysis are minor, but this does represent the best analysis based on the data that King... [read more]
March 03, 2005
Count every vote
by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:58 PM, 46 Comments
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... [read more]
A sewer of corruption
by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:48 AM, 24 Comments
I apologize for my earlier statement accusing the Washington State Democratic Party of being an opium den of corruption. It is actually a sewer of corruption. Today's Seattle Times -- "Dems admit mistakes to PDC" Two years ago, in the... [read more]
March 02, 2005
Secretary of State comments on the "crediting" flap
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:40 PM, 29 Comments
I contacted the Secretary of State's office to ask for comment now that King County has acknowledged that crediting is an integral part of the ballot counting process and not just a post-certification file-maintenance procedure that is unrelated to ballot-counting,... [read more]
A brief history of the "crediting is irrelevant" canard
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:00 PM, 11 Comments
Now that King County has acknowledged that crediting is an essential part of the ballot-counting process and by implication that its explanation of the 1,800+ discrepancy between ballots and voters is no longer operative, let's see how the story about... [read more]
March 01, 2005
Big News: King County Revises Story on Voter Crediting
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:50 AM, 54 Comments
King County Elections now acknowledges that crediting voters was an integral part of the ballot counting process after the November 2004 election, for both absentee and polling place voters. This acknowledgement is huge. It implicitly confirms that the discrepancy of... [read more]
February 27, 2005
Credit where credit is due
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:29 PM, 31 Comments
I found more proof that King County Election officials are telling a cock and bull story when they say that voter crediting is just a "file-maintenance chore" that "has nothing to do with ballot-counting". From King County's "STATEMENT FOR ABSENTEE... [read more]
February 26, 2005
That Magical Binder
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:37 AM, 31 Comments
Yes, King County really does have a magical binder with precinct reconciliation data (at least they did at one time). And by the account of someone who is familiar with the contents, it would confirm that there were a significant... [read more]
February 25, 2005
Real Soon Now (2)
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:36 AM, 12 Comments
Today's Seattle Times reports on yet another instance where the King County Elections Office has not released the information it has said it would release. "Probe of felon voters not yet started" King County's January 23 press release and the... [read more]
February 23, 2005
Who won illegal votes of felons?
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:34 AM, 125 Comments
WA Republicans announced yesterday that over 1,000 felon were found to have voted in Nov. 2004. Naturally, state Democrats claim that most of these are Rossi voters: [Democrat lawyer "Baghdad Jenny" Durkan] argued, the Democrats can raise questions about "the... [read more]
February 22, 2005
Another form of Distributed vote fraud
by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:55 PM, 43 Comments
A Snohomish County reader e-mails: Your site helped us over the weekend as we found out my wife's' uncle who is declared 'incompetent' by the State and has a legal guardian, voted and is now a PAV as well. Besides... [read more]
Selective public disclosure
by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:42 PM, 14 Comments
One of the more excitable lunatic-fringe bloggers reported this weekend that "KC Elections reconciled results. (So there)" Said blogger bases his giddy report on a conversation with the spokeswoman for King County Elections. However, it appears that our good friend's... [read more]
Secretary of State losing confidence in King County
by Stefan Sharkansky, 07:55 AM, 10 Comments
"What happened in King County? We don't know either in some cases". Ouch. So says one of Secretary of State Sam Reed's top deputies, Assistant Secretary Steve Excell, speaking for the SoS office. I contacted Secretary Reed's office last week... [read more]
February 21, 2005
Barone on the Gore-Gregoire Selective Ballot-Counting Gambit
by Seth Cooper, 11:04 AM, 23 Comments
Today’s must read article reflecting on the election mess in Washington State comes from Michael Barone. In “2000 Changed Everything,” Barone analyzes the political damage to the Republicans and corresponding fallout for the Democrats from Al Gore’s strategy of challenging... [read more]
February 20, 2005
Discrepancy Doughnut Hole
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:45 AM, 41 Comments
Let's revisit Friday's P-I article about King County's groaning discrepancy "Election expert praises King County: Record-keeping called very accurate". This article is being trumpeted by some of the more prolific fabulists from the lunatic-fringe blogs as a "definitive debunking" of... [read more]
Busted!
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:06 AM, 53 Comments
The Tacoma News-Tribune reports that "73 voter registrations voided" As fallout continues from the disputed governor’s race, Pierce County has revoked the voter registrations of 73 felons, all of whom apparently voted in the November election. Some of these felon... [read more]
February 18, 2005
Election Contest Update
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:27 PM, 56 Comments
Today's court ruling favored the Republicans: WENATCHEE — Chelan County Superior Judge John Bridges today declined to issue an order clarifying a series of rulings he made in the governor's election lawsuit earlier this month. Bridges instead sided with Republicans... [read more]
February 16, 2005
FOX Honcho Talks Smack on Revote
by P. Scott Cummins, 12:00 PM, 72 Comments
FOX Honcho Talks Smack on Revote [read more]
February 15, 2005
Friday Court Date
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:19 PM, 9 Comments
The next court date in Borders v. King County et al is Friday morning in Wenatchee. [now that King County is dismissed as a party, has the suit been renamed Borders v. et al?]. Attorneys for Dino Rossi and the... [read more]
Democrats and Distributed Vote Fraud
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:56 AM, 27 Comments
A Washington Democratic elected official sent this in a private email explaining his reasons for opposing a revote and letting Gregoire keep her job. No election is 100% clean and fair. Mistakes are made, more often human mistakes and not... [read more]
February 11, 2005
Orange Patrol
by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:10 PM, 46 Comments
Reader P.L. from Port Orchard emails: while driving on the freeway near Bremerton I was passed by a Washington State Patrol vehicle. To my pleasant surprise, as he passed me, I noticed he had one of those magnetic orange Revote... [read more]
Gregoire in her own words: "these talk show radios" are trying to kill me
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:21 AM, 74 Comments
Oh my. One of Mrs. Gregoire's communications aides told me on Thursday afternoon that her office didn't have a recording of Gregoire's Q&A from Feb. 3 -- the one where she explained why she was withholding release of her public... [read more]
February 08, 2005
I read it in the funny papers
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:55 AM, 47 Comments
The headline of today's Seattle Times article about yesterday's Rossi press conference "Rossi declares himself winner in latest round of court fight" Declares himself? After Judge Bridges denied every single one of the Democrats' motions to dismiss the contest? It... [read more]
More on Gregoire's Secret Schedule and Bogus Death Threat
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:27 AM, 46 Comments
A reader pointed out yet another interesting coinky-dink about the timing of the announcement of Gregoire's two-week-old psychiatric patient death threat and the decision to conceal her schedule from the public. As we mentioned yesterday, Gregoire made her announcement on... [read more]
February 07, 2005
Wenatchee Report
by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:25 PM, 17 Comments
At the risk of turning into a Walter Winchell-style namedropping gossip columnist, I post this report from a reader who attended the court hearing in Wenatchee last Friday: At the court hearing, one wonders how the Seattle P-I reporter (sitting... [read more]
Why are they keeping Gregoire's schedule a secret?
by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:28 AM, 46 Comments
It was reported last week that former Attorney General Christine Gregoire's schedule of appearances will be kept secret, on account of a "death threat". The interesting timing of the death threat report gives us a clue as to what might... [read more]
February 05, 2005
Kirstin, Kirstin, Kirstin
by Matt Rosenberg, 10:22 PM, 51 Comments
Scorched-earth spokeswoman for the WA State Dems, Kirstin Brost, emerges from this fawning Stranger profile with egg all over her face. Regarding the pending contested election lawsuit against Democrat and current Governor Christine Gregoire by Republican opponent Dino Rossi, she... [read more]
Misconduct, Neglect Grounds For Voiding Election
by Matt Rosenberg, 11:13 AM, 39 Comments
....That's what jumped out at ME in this morning's Seattle Times story. As Stefan notes in his first post today, the transcript will help everyone. But chew on this: Bridges...denied a Democratic motion to limit any challenge to issues of... [read more]
Wenatchee Update
by Stefan Sharkansky, 08:35 AM, 52 Comments
Today's Seattle Times print article about the election contest hearing walks back the implausible and uncorroborated report in yesterday's online story that "Republicans must show any illegal votes were cast in favor of Gregoire". Today's paper: A major issue that... [read more]
February 04, 2005
What really happened in Wenatchee?
by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:58 PM, 90 Comments
I step out from the office for a couple of hours and when I come back I learn that the whole world has changed. The Seattle Times reports: "Judge refuses to dismiss lawsuit over governor's election". So far, so good,... [read more]
Who is Timothy Borders?
by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:12 PM, 4 Comments
In case you were wondering who is the man behind the name of the lead plaintiff in the election contest lawsuit, today's Seattle Times has a profile of Timothy Borders. I'm proud to say that I know Tim. He's a... [read more]
Flash: Judge Bridges issues more rulings against Democrats
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:26 PM, 180 Comments
Denies the motion to exclude the Rossi campaign as "not a proper party" Denies the counties' motions to dismiss on lack of timeliness. On the other hand, the court is dismissing every county from the action, as they are not... [read more]
Flash: Judge Bridges rules against Democrats
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:53 AM, 14 Comments
Intervenors' motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Question: Does this court or any court have the jurisdiction to rule on an election contest involving the governor? Ruling: Cites Article III Section IV of the State Constitution. "Contested... [read more]
Watch today's court hearing live
by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:31 AM, 24 Comments
The KING-5 TV website has live streaming video of today's Chelan County Court hearing.... [read more]
February 03, 2005
Gregoire Receives Death Threat
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:38 PM, 79 Comments
Christine Gregoire has received a death threat. The death threat was inexcusable. But then so was Gregoire's reaction: She said blamed "the level of discussion on some of these talk radio shows" for whipping up people. Oh, please. I've heard... [read more]
When counties count
by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:14 PM, 38 Comments
I've received new information to confirm that King County's large discrepancy between ballots counted and voters counted is an outsized anomaly. As I reported earlier, King County's discrepancy of miscounted ballots, (considering both voterless ballots and ballotless voters) --... [read more]
Voter Database Update
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:20 AM, 14 Comments
The voter database now includes Whatcom County. Speaking of which, Whatcom had a larger number (relative to the size of the county) of people voting at the County Administration Building than King County had. 37 people voted in November using... [read more]
February 02, 2005
SEATTLE UNIVERSITY FEDERALIST SOCIETY Panel
by Brian Crouch, 03:09 PM, 19 Comments
The Federalists will hold a gubernatorial election panel next Tuesday. Their flyer frames the following posers: "What went right? What went wrong? What is next?" Get a load of the guest list: Mr. Paul Berendt, Chair of Washington Democrats Mr.... [read more]
Terwilliger Bunts One
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:20 PM, 36 Comments
Snohomish County Auditor Bob Terwilliger filed this declaration (under penalty of perjury) in Borders v. King County: Petitioners allege that Snohomish County election officials “counted votes in excess of the number of lawfully registered voters that participated in the election.”... [read more]
February 01, 2005
WA Democrats Scared out of their Wits
by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:52 PM, 129 Comments
The Washington Democrats appear to be scared out of their wits by the prospect of a revote. If they were feeling confident in their prospects, their message would be along the lines "of course Christine Gregoire is the legitimate governor... [read more]
Voter Database Update
by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:57 PM, 50 Comments
Clark County has now been added to the voter database. See if you can find the 225 magical mystery voters that the county auditor cannot find. And speaking of Clark County, a reader from Vancouver e-mails: REVOTE RALLY PLANNED FOR... [read more]
CHRIS GREGOIRE CARTOONS
by Seth Cooper, 11:23 AM, 2 Comments
For your comic relief concerning the recent Governor's race and election fiasco, I offer my recent cartoon contributions, here and here.... [read more]
Rachel Corrie is still registered to vote
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:08 AM, 42 Comments
Nearly two years after her fatal accident, Rachel Corrie is still registered to vote in Thurston County. The voting history (not online) shows that Corrie last voted in 2001. But it seems weird that she's still registered. The nominal excuse... [read more]
January 31, 2005
Clark County off by hundreds; Gives Up
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:58 PM, 30 Comments
"Clark County will soon quit trying to balance the number of ballots with the number of people credited with voting in the governor's election", the Columbian reports. As of Friday, there were 225 more votes than identified voters a disturbing... [read more]
Snohomish (i)
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:57 PM, 23 Comments
More fascinating revelations from Snohomish County Elections which admits to counting hundreds more ballots than voters. Bob Williams of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation has been following up on some of my Public Disclosure Requests with more detailed requests of his... [read more]
Dumb E-mail
by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:38 PM, 87 Comments
Several readers sent me this e-mail to constituents from Rep. Jeannie Darneille(D-27) who represents parts of Fife and Tacoma. I don't say it lightly that her reasons for opposing a revote would have to be the stupidest thing I have... [read more]
Reply To Lehto By Eric Earling
by Jim Miller, 03:54 PM, 7 Comments
(This brief post, which made some skeptical remarks on a study of electronic voting in Snohomish county generated many comments, including some attacking the study, and some in defense of the study by one of the authors, Paul Lehto. One... [read more]
Who Audits the Auditors?
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:09 AM, 12 Comments
County Auditors all over the state are complaining about the extra work they're having to do to respond to the election contest. Pierce County is moaning about the cost: "It's a major monkey wrench in the machinery of Pierce County,"... [read more]
Learn from Iraq
by Marsha Michaelis, 09:33 AM, 14 Comments
Bob Williams makes a couple of interesting observations about the Iraqi elections: 1. All of Iraq's voters were registered in 45 days. 2. Registered voters had to show their registration cards and photo ID to vote. First time's a charm,... [read more]
No evidence?
by Timothy Goddard, 08:37 AM, 2 Comments
This cartoon, by Larry Countryman of Snohomish, was passed to me by Steve Neighbors, chairman of the Snohomish County Republican Party, who asked if I could publicize it a bit. I'm only too happy too to do so. Click... [read more]
January 29, 2005
Georgia Resident Admits to Voting in Washington State
by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:32 PM, 80 Comments
A tip from a voter database user uncovered a long-time Georgia resident who admits to voting in Washington State. Dr. Daniel M. Sosin earned a graduate degree at the University of Washington in the early 1990s. He has been employed... [read more]
January 28, 2005
National Review Editorial: New Election in WA
by Matt Rosenberg, 11:49 AM, 18 Comments
In an editorial from its Feb. 14 print edition that is posted online today here, The National Review calls for a new election for Governor in Washington State. Rossi....argues that the vote-counting process has been so chaotic and mishandled that... [read more]
Public Opinion on Revote
by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:09 AM, 37 Comments
Strategic Vision released its latest public opinion poll of Washington voters, conducted Jan. 24-26: The poll finds that 53% of respondents favor a revote for governor; 35% oppose; and 12% are undecided. If there was a revote, 51% would support... [read more]
Town Hall with Dean Logan
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:10 AM, 60 Comments
Today's Seattle Times reports on Thursday night's town hall meeting with King County Elections Director Dean Logan. As noted in the article, I challenged Logan's assertion that 1,800 ballots were miscounted, and pointed out that that was only the net... [read more]
January 27, 2005
Sam Reed responds to Democrats' Motions
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:24 PM, 25 Comments
Secretary of State Sam Reed filed three responses in the Chelan County court case this week supporting the Republican position, or, more precisely, arguing that the Democrats' motions to dismiss the election contest are a load of rubbish. In this... [read more]
"We Do Not Have A Number"
by Jim Miller, 05:03 PM, 13 Comments
That's what Secretary of State Sam Reed just said when asked on the John Carlson show how many non-citizens voted in Washington. Reed went on to say that it "does not appear to be a problem of real magnitude".... [read more]
Bawlbaby Berendt: Ballot chaser
by Brian Crouch, 03:03 PM, 17 Comments
From the Times, the WA Dem chair is up for re-election:"I am absolutely certain that if anyone were chair other than myself, Christine would not be governor today because we chased the ballots, we fought the battle in the courts,... [read more]
January 26, 2005
Mary Lane Interview
by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:32 PM, 14 Comments
Monday's interview with Rossi campaign communications director Mary Lane about the election contest and revote campaign is now available in streaming video at the Seattle Channel website. Mary gave a really informative interview. I highly recommend it. If you prefer... [read more]
January 25, 2005
Distributed Vote Fraud Detection
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:48 AM, 89 Comments
Sound Politics has now posted a limited beta version online voter database. This quote was the final motivation for me to put some of the voter data online -- King County elections czar Dean Logan: “Both state and federal laws... [read more]
Meet Dean Logan
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:02 AM, 7 Comments
Speaking of Dean Logan, he'll be the featured speaker at a town hall meeting this Thursday organized by King County Councilmember Bob Ferguson: To discuss needed election reform, please attend my town meeting with Dean Logan, Director of King County... [read more]
You're in good hands with Dean and Corky
by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:38 AM, 17 Comments
Yakima County Auditor Corky Mattingly reassures us in today's Seattle Times that "King County voters in good hands" In King County, while the elections officer is not elected, the current occupant of the office, [Dean] Logan, is one of the... [read more]
First In The Seattle Times?
by Jim Miller, 09:24 AM, 23 Comments
This morning, KVI's Kirby Wilbur quoted a letter from the Seattle Times executive editor, Michael Fancher, claiming that his newspaper was first with the big stories on Washington's disputed gubernatorial election. If by that Fancher means that the Times has... [read more]
January 24, 2005
Passing the Buck
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:41 PM, 79 Comments
Only a couple of weeks ago, angry constituents were besieging the Democrats in the state legislature to hold off certifying Gregoire's bogus electoral "victory". The stock response from the Democrats? Either (a) it was "the most accurate vote count in... [read more]
King County vote count off by more than 3,700 votes
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:27 AM, 112 Comments
I've finished the massive project of trying to reconcile the King County voter list to the vote count as accurately as humanly possible. My conclusion: their numbers are off by at least 3,748 votes, or roughly 30 times former... [read more]
January 23, 2005
Saddam Hussein New President of Iraq
by Andy MacDonald, 01:48 PM, 18 Comments
From commentor Vince Callaway's blog Total Sense: In a stunning upset Saddam Hussein was today announced the winner in a very close Presidential Election. This close race came down to a hand recount of all the votes. During the recount... [read more]
Logan Claims Checking Registrations Not His Job
by Andy MacDonald, 12:12 PM, 58 Comments
The same Seattle Times article on felons voting referenced below by Stefan and Jim contains this choice passage: The Times surveyed 21 of Washington's 39 counties about their procedures for tracking felons, and in most of those counties, officials don't... [read more]
Did Illegal Votes From Felons Provide Gregoire's 129 Vote Margin?
by Jim Miller, 11:32 AM, 16 Comments
That's what I have thought ever since the manual recount in our governor's race. As Stefan Sharkansky noted in this post, the Seattle Times has done a partial search of the records in just two counties, King and Pierce, and... [read more]
Election Reform Advisory Board
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:27 AM, 27 Comments
Secretary of State Sam Reed has appointed an election reform advisory board: An Advisory Board charged with distributing federal funds to Washington counties to pay for election reforms will meet this week. Members of the board appointed by the Secretary:... [read more]
"Scores of felons voted illegally"
by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:42 AM, 43 Comments
Today's Seattle Times reports that "Scores of felons voted illegally" Scores of convicted felons voted illegally in the state's 2004 general election, and officials never noticed because of serious flaws in the system for tracking them, The Seattle Times has... [read more]
January 22, 2005
"New election system hit glitches"
by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:03 PM, 109 Comments
Today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that King County's new software for managing elections was responsible for numerous errors: Many of King County's problems with missing and delayed ballots, rejected votes and duplicate ballots sent to voters this fall can be traced... [read more]
Proud of the process
by Brian Crouch, 11:37 AM, 13 Comments
About 150 Iraqis are making an 18-hour trip down from Washington to L.A. to register to vote... for Iraq's new leadership. "From here, from this place, even if we drive 20 hours, nothing can compare to what the people are... [read more]
January 20, 2005
January Timeline
by Brian Crouch, 11:59 PM, 0 Comments
January 2005 New Year’s Day: Manual recount precinct canvass reveals 684 precincts with more voters than ballots and 725 other precincts with more ballots than voters, for ~1,512 ballotless voters and ~4,593 voterless ballots. Out-of-state press disrespects Rossi’s... [read more]
Shifting Sands of Time
by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:47 PM, 32 Comments
The most recent oddities discovered in the King County Voter Lists involve funny voter registration dates. The first issue, as I reported the other day, is that several dozen registration dates had been changed between the Dec. 29 and the... [read more]
What are the Vote Counters afraid of?
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:06 PM, 49 Comments
Various county auditors, including Snohomish Auditor Bob Terwilliger, have filed papers to dismiss the Rossi election challenge. Here's my speculation on the underlying motivations -- 1) Some of these auditors, like Terwilliger, are Democrats and simply want Gregoire's "victory" to... [read more]
Worth Reading:
by Jim Miller, 08:28 AM, 6 Comments
Timothy Goddard's (partial) defense of Washington's secretary of state, Sam Reed. Goddard argues, plausibly I think, that Reed has mostly done the right things, but said some foolish things during the recounts. I heard the same interview on the... [read more]
Polls mean nothing...
by Brian Crouch, 08:02 AM, 9 Comments
...but they're a good way to take the tempature of the room. Click to e-mail the WA governor's race timeline to people who still need convincing.... [read more]
January 19, 2005
King County Ballots Cartoon
by Seth Cooper, 01:44 PM, 5 Comments
Seeing as I accidently set a computer on fire in college and, more recently, had trouble posting my last cartoon on Sound Politics, I'm not going to try to post my latest one on this blog. Instead will refer you... [read more]
An Open Letter To The New York Times
by Jim Miller, 06:23 AM, 24 Comments
One month ago, the New York Times urged Washington state to "count every vote" in our governor's race, repeating the slogan so popular among Democratic activists and editorial writers. We now know, thanks to investigations by the Republican party, the... [read more]
A Comprehensive Timeline of the Governor's Race
by Brian Crouch, 06:20 AM, 31 Comments
The following are 3 timelines for the governor's race, with links to the stories as SoundPolitics broke them. November Timeline December Timeline January Timeline... [read more]
January 18, 2005
King County Military Absentee Ballots
by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:44 PM, 19 Comments
As I wrote the other day, there are still a number of open questions surrounding King County's mailing of military absentee ballots. I spoke with King County Elections officials today mostly on other matters and we didn't spend a lot... [read more]
Election Contest Update
by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:23 PM, 20 Comments
The Rossi campaign has filed additional affidavits with the Chelan County court containing new evidence of voting irregularities. Among the more interesting of the affidavits are the ones from WSRP political director Mike Sheridan and researcher Christopher Yetter. New information... [read more]
Shark on Fox: A Streaming Redux
by P. Scott Cummins, 04:40 PM, 5 Comments
The inestimable "super" Mac of Pull On Superman's Cape provides us with a link to streaming video of Stefan Sharkansky's appearance yesterday with Brit Hume on FOX News Special Report. Access Mac's site here.... [read more]
Suspending County Election Boards
by Jim Miller, 09:22 AM, 27 Comments
There are election boards — St. Louis comes to mind — that have been associated with so much fraud that no honest person should trust them. There are other election boards — Broward county in Florida comes to mind —... [read more]
Election Certified in Violation of Agency Rules
by Stefan Sharkansky, 07:55 AM, 34 Comments
It's not only common sense that dictates you can't certify an election unless the number of ballots matches the number of voters. There is even a Secretary of State agency rule that mandates as much. Somehow the election was certified... [read more]
January 17, 2005
The End of the Beginning
by P. Scott Cummins, 05:29 PM, 16 Comments
It has now been one week since the Revote!Rally in Olympia and the story continues to grow. Coverage has been steadfast from Michelle Malkin and the Wall Street Journal. The Economist has run the numbers and doesn’t like the results... [read more]
"The 'S' Factor"
by Matt Rosenberg, 05:12 PM, 26 Comments
In today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Seattle resident and guest columnist Neal Starkman reprises his lament regarding "The 'S' Factor." He believes stupidity, and unwillingness to place reason ahead of faith, explains George W. Bush's popularity. When Starkman wrote a similar piece... [read more]
Non-Citizens Voting In Hawaii
by Jim Miller, 04:28 PM, 7 Comments
Hawaii has had Democratic governors since 1962, and near one party control of its legislature for most of that time. As one would expect when one party is unchallenged for so long, the Democrats became corrupt and arrogant, and... [read more]
The right flank
by Brian Crouch, 03:14 PM, 13 Comments
Battles are rarely won on one field alone. Dr. Arthur Coday, the physician from Shoreline who filed a private contest of the gubernatorial election, is asking us to add our voices to his. A citizen's push for a new election... [read more]
When 99.9% Isn't Good Enough
by Brian Crouch, 02:42 PM, 29 Comments
Remember when county Elections Superintendent Huennekens said the "larger number of unaccounted-for votes should not shake people's confidence in the outcome of an election that he said was still '99.9x' percent accurate," i.e.,- close enough for government work. Do you... [read more]
County Auditors Take King to Task
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:37 PM, 27 Comments
The King County elections office, the Democratic Party, Secretary of State Sam Reed, and the lazy and credulous wing of the local media establishment have been feeding us the pabulum that King County's discrepancy of thousands more ballots than voters... [read more]
Monkey Business
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:24 AM, 10 Comments
l-r. Christine Gregoire, Sam Reed, Paul Berendt. and then there's Ken "See no evil" Schram hat tips: top photo: soon-to-be-blog christmasghost bottom photo: reader Curt G.... [read more]
Wolfgang von Skeptic Speaks
by Matt Rosenberg, 10:48 AM, 8 Comments
That's the nom de blog of one Loren Bliss, a Western Washington resident and veteran newsman, who among many other assignments, served as a UPI correspondent in this region. Bliss voted for Gregoire in November, but says a revote is... [read more]
A Tale of Two Cities
by Brian Crouch, 09:57 AM, 15 Comments
Horace Cooper comments on the dichotomy between our uncertain election and the Democrats' hand-wringing over the victory of Pres. Bush in Ohio:It is a tale of two cities that shows political posturing at its worst. Democrats in Washington, D.C., protest... [read more]
What went wrong?
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:51 AM, 39 Comments
This can't be good for Governor-for-the-time-being Gregoire. Robert Mak's Sunday newsmagazine this week was titled "What went wrong?". Neither Dean Logan nor Sam Reed seem to have much confidence in their work product: Mak: "Do you think we really know... [read more]
January 16, 2005
Brewing vote fraud controversy cheeses bloggers off
by Brian Crouch, 10:54 PM, 25 Comments
In Wisconsin, a vote fraud controversy is remaining almost entirely ignored by the media, and, as in Washington, bloggers are fighting to find the truth. The sandbagging of registrations in Milwaukee almost achieved the desired result: Bush lost Wisconsin, although... [read more]
The ongoing controversy of the King County military ballots
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:19 PM, 28 Comments
Unfortunately, the question whether King County issued all of its military absentee ballots in compliance with the Oct. 7 deadline, has not yet been answered. A headline in the Seattle Times last Thursday declared "Military ballots sent out on time,... [read more]
Non-citizens voting
by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:37 PM, 43 Comments
No documented cases in Washington yet, but in Texas at least there are recent documented cases of voting by people who are not U.S. citizens HOUSTON (AP) - Officials are investigating how at least 35 foreign citizens, and possibly dozens... [read more]
January 15, 2005
Correction or Cover-up?
by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:57 PM, 67 Comments
There were two deadlines for voter registration before the November 2, 2004 election: Mail-in registrations were due on Oct 2. In-person registration was still permissible through Oct. 18. Voters who missed the Oct. 2 deadline but registered by the 18th... [read more]
Democrats defending the felon vote
by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:03 PM, 56 Comments
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that the Democrats are manning all battlestations to defend illegal voting by felons. "GOP's request for criminal list raises concern": Comparing voter lists with the state's criminal history database, as Republicans are doing in their attempt... [read more]
How Many Felons Voted Illegally In Washington's Gubernatorial Election?
by Jim Miller, 09:30 AM, 55 Comments
I don't know, and, as far as I can tell, neither does anyone else. But there are some numbers from the Florida 2000 election that suggest that illegal votes from felons may have provided Christine Gregoire's 129 vote margin. First,... [read more]
Precedent=deja vu
by Brian Crouch, 05:04 AM, 28 Comments
Tim Goddard burns his proboscis on the grinding wheel with legal precedent from the famed Foulkes v. Hayes case, which brought about a re-vote. He says the current case is "startlingly similar."... [read more]
January 14, 2005
Happy Birthday
by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:42 PM, 24 Comments
Oops. When the Secretary of State's office gave the Seattle Times a voter registration database, they inadvertently released the voters' birthdates. This is invaluable information for doing research on the voter database. The Times has used this information, for example,... [read more]
Plan B
by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:19 PM, 68 Comments
In the (unlikely, in my belief) event that the courts don't permit a gubernatorial revote, there's always Plan B. The King County Council districts have been redrawn to accommodate the shrinking of the council from thirteen members to nine. The... [read more]
"Kiev By The Pacific"
by Matt Rosenberg, 12:50 PM, 103 Comments
Here's The Economist, on Washington State's election mess. In one way, Washington state was merely unlucky. Its problems—inconsistent voting procedures, antiquated voting equipment, sloppy vote-counting—could have happened in any state, argues Paul Gronke, an elections expert in Portland, Oregon. ....The... [read more]
Just for fun
by Brian Crouch, 11:46 AM, 20 Comments
Sometimes overstating your case can be hazardous. But it can still be funny. By Daniel Cotrell, linked at FOTW: And here's another well-done one, albeit a little extreme, by Matt Mullenix. UPDATE: Blogophobic conspiracy-nut columnists who believe SoundPolitics is a... [read more]
Two Follow Ups
by Jim Miller, 07:51 AM, 36 Comments
After I posted my discussion of the accuracy of Washington state's manual recount, I saw two issues raised in comments here that deserve follow ups. First, some wondered about the existence of systems that would print paper ballots for voters.... [read more]
This Is Just Sad
by Jim Miller, 06:49 AM, 64 Comments
The Seattle PI's lead political columnist, Joel Connelly, has ignored the substantive issues in our disputed governor's race ever since the election. He has had little critical to say about the King County elections office, which has admitted to breaking... [read more]
Perkin Warbeck
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:33 AM, 18 Comments
Reader J.C. emails: Instead of Fraudoire why not just call her the Pretender? For real fans of history we could refer to her as the former Ms. Perkin Warbeck.... [read more]
January 13, 2005
Snowjob! (part 2)
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:30 PM, 32 Comments
I'm writing this post to both correct a factual error in this afternoon's Snowjob! post and to provide more detailed evidence that King County is pulling a snowjob. Rewind: Last Friday when King County reported an unexplained discrepancy of... [read more]
76 More Felon Voters
by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:47 PM, 65 Comments
Tim Harris of the BIAW tells me that they have identified 76 felons who voted in King County, adding to the several dozen other felon voters the group identified in Pierce and Snohomish Counties.... [read more]
Was The Manual Recount More Accurate Than The Machine Recount?
by Jim Miller, 04:55 PM, 69 Comments
That's the claim made, again and again, by supporters of Washington state's "governor", Christine Gregoire. (They also say, again and again, that Washington's laws provide for a manual recount — which is not in dispute.) They make this claim in... [read more]
Snowjob!
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:14 PM, 127 Comments
Last Friday when King County reported an unexplained discrepancy of 1,217 more ballots counted than identified voters, they also made this statement: This number is consistent with historic reconciliation rates for King County. In 2000 this number was 1,230. First... [read more]
Good news on military ballots
by Brian Crouch, 11:23 AM, 81 Comments
We had suspicions that KC elections had covered up missing the deadline to mail absentee ballots to the overseas military. We knew for a fact that: 1. DOJ had threatened the state with a lawsuit if they missed the deadline... [read more]
The next phase.
by Brian Crouch, 08:44 AM, 147 Comments
(image © Brian Crouch 2005) UPDATE: Timothy Goddard has done the work of ten lawyers. Check it out for in-depth analysis of the laws affecting the election contest. Go team!... [read more]
Sick humor for sick times.
by Brian Crouch, 08:38 AM, 7 Comments
Eyes on the Ball: "We are very upset at the allegations of fraud and malfeasance directed at us by Republicans in Washington State," said Elzoah Greybones, representative of Ghouls for Democrats. "It's bad enough that we are constantly under attack... [read more]
January 12, 2005
Dino Rossi's statement
by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:06 PM, 135 Comments
Dino Rossi issued this statement on the event of today's "inauguration" “With thousands of questionable ballots, improperly cast ballots, and disenfranchised voters still in question, most people believe that Washington does not have a legitimately elected governor. In King County... [read more]
An Example Of Distributed Vote Fraud
by Jim Miller, 02:56 PM, 29 Comments
While doing the previous post, I ran across this very clear example of what I have begun to call distributed vote fraud. The New York Daily News found last August that 46,000 people were registered to vote in both Florida... [read more]
Large Majority in State Backs Revote
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:13 PM, 71 Comments
Spokane station KHQ-TV commissioned a poll this week: 62% in the State of Washington say there should be a new election to re-vote on the governor's race ... and 36% statewide say there should not be a new election. A... [read more]
Are Democrats More Likely To Commit Vote Fraud Than Republicans?
by Jim Miller, 12:59 PM, 53 Comments
Nearly all informed political observers would say yes. In his book on vote fraud, John Fund is apologetic about mentioning that, because he wants to make a general argument. Here's how he begins the discussion: A note about partisanship: Since... [read more]
Coup d'etat
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:27 PM, 111 Comments
Governor-pretend Fraudoire's coup d'etat by fraudulent voting and bureaucratic incompetence is on the verge of being accomplished. She is about to be sworn in at this moment. (12:20pm) Witness the disgusting trashing of our democracy live on KING 5, if... [read more]
Today's editorials
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:02 PM, 24 Comments
Today's Seattle Times full column lead editorial jumps the gun by giving Governor-pretend Fraudoire's procedural victory the political legitimacy that it does not deserve. Headlined "Gov. Christine Gregoire" and with an exceptionally large photograph, the editorial essentially ingnores the growing... [read more]
Go back to Eastern Washington? The dirty dozen are locals.
by Brian Crouch, 10:45 AM, 36 Comments
Skor Grimm has an interesting comparison of quotes from yesterday's capitol building rally in Olympia.... [read more]
Rally revisited
by Brian Crouch, 09:55 AM, 10 Comments
Here are some photos from the Re-Vote rally yesterday, in the extended entry section at bottom. I'll add more later, so check back. If you attended, a good place to post your own pictures (registration required) is The Right Society... [read more]
January 11, 2005
Inaugural Ball
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:48 PM, 20 Comments
It sounds like Governor-pretend Fraudoire's inaugural ball isn't exactly the hottest ticket in town: [Ball committee member Judi] Hoefling said they expect 3,500 people — about 1,000 short of a sell-out — to attend the swank event. Some Republicans who... [read more]
Rally Report
by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:29 PM, 158 Comments
Had a great time at the Revote Rally in Olympia today. The news reports say that there were 1,000 pro-revote protesters and 500 counter-protesters. I'd have to say they overestimated the number of counter-protesters. Brian Crouch and I drove down... [read more]
We Don't Need No Stinkin' Signatures
by Matt Rosenberg, 09:50 AM, 143 Comments
It's all slipping away from the King County elections department, and you read about it here first, thanks to ace Sound Politics data-miner Stefan Sharkansky. The latest crushing revelation of institutional incompetence is the admission, reported to newspaper readers here... [read more]
Lerning too spel kurecktley
by Brian Crouch, 08:23 AM, 27 Comments
In a brilliant piece of prose from the AFT, the Washington State Teacher's Union, we are reminded of the proverb "by the fruit shall ye know the tree."Certify Christine Gregoire! Dear Union Member, As you know, Christine Gregoire's gubanatorial election... [read more]
Olympia Rally Today
by Stefan Sharkansky, 07:27 AM, 39 Comments
Revote Rally outside the legislature starting at 10:30. Details and bus/carpool info at the state GOP website I'll be speaking around 11:15. See you there!... [read more]
January 10, 2005
Beware of Moonbats
by Brian Crouch, 10:38 PM, 37 Comments
Tread carefully tomorrow, SoundPolitics readers attending the rally. You never know what you might step in when there's a rabid pack of crazed moonbats swarming. The following letter (not a spoof) was intercepted by Mr. Cynical:Dear MoveOn member: Thanks to... [read more]
Sound Politics on the air
by Brian Crouch, 07:09 PM, 14 Comments
Please listen to Rabbi Daniel Lapin's interview with Stefan Sharkansky on the Toward Tradition radio show. Works best in Windows Media Player... fast forward to minute 6. The Rabbi was so interested in the topic, and blogging in particular, that... [read more]
Bust the Democrat Spin Machine
by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:21 PM, 195 Comments
As noted, the incoming Democrat-controlled legislature is poised to certify Governor-pretend Fraudoire's "victory" tomorrow. Democratic legislators are circling the wagons to defend their impending vote. The Democrats who live in swing districts that voted for Dino Rossi find themselves in... [read more]
Interesting Development regarding Absentee Ballots
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:42 PM, 67 Comments
Joe O'Donnell, who broke the story of the hundreds of unverified provisional ballots that were fed into election machines, sends us this email on the King County's military absentee ballots that supposedly went out on Oct. 7: From Bulk Permit... [read more]
Omerta breaks
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:40 AM, 61 Comments
The King County Elections staff are starting to break "omerta" and talk about some of the monkey business that's going on in their deparment. In the extended entry is an anonymous e-mail from someone claiming to be a King County... [read more]
UPDATED: Don't recycle.
by Brian Crouch, 10:05 AM, 67 Comments
Not yet anyway, if you're a military voter who voted absentee in this election: As an investigative follow-up to Stefan's slam-dunk scoop "Correction or Cover-up?" we're asking that you and/or your military friends or family look at the postmarks of... [read more]
Embalm the vote...
by Brian Crouch, 09:15 AM, 5 Comments
... and then check the ballots by hand! (As if that makes any difference when you've got a deceased voter.) With big thanks to Cox & Forkum! We hoped they would do a cartoon on this topic (ok, we begged... [read more]
Independent review needed
by Andy MacDonald, 08:40 AM, 6 Comments
CBS has finally concluded its investigation into the Rathergate memos: Four CBS News employees, including three executives, have been ousted for their role in preparing and reporting a disputed story about President Bush’s National Guard service. The action was prompted... [read more]
Pray For Chris
by Matt Rosenberg, 08:29 AM, 36 Comments
In a piece titled, "If You're Pro-Choice, Pray For Gregoire," Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist Susan Paynter today trots out the stale left-of-center shtick that Washington's Republican Governor To Be (?) Dino Rossi could somehow manage to get overturned a voter-approved state... [read more]
Michael Fancher Wants Our Help
by Jim Miller, 06:59 AM, 8 Comments
While sorting through old newspapers I found this column on Washington state's disputed gubernatorial election by the executive editor of the Seattle Times. Since it was printed December 26th, others besides myself may have missed his request for help: Instead... [read more]
Correction or Cover-up?
by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:34 AM, 37 Comments
Dino Rossi has made allegations of disenfranchised military voters a central issue in the lawsuit to set aside the election. Today, David Postman reports in the Seattle Times that "Feds threatened suit over military ballots" Less than a month before... [read more]
Bombshell: More King County Elections Bogosity
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:37 AM, 18 Comments
I finally figured out how King County came up with their announced "final" discrepancy of 1,217 more ballots than voters: they used a junky data file and they're off by over 600. The file they distributed on Friday contained... [read more]
Gregoire Postal Stamps!
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:15 AM, 20 Comments
In celebration of Governor-pretend Fraudoire's impending "inauguration" -- A commemorative postage stamp and cover! [click for larger version] A round of applause to Arunas Banionis, who adds: Being the son of Lithaunian immigrants who fled communism to live in a... [read more]
January 09, 2005
What about those 22 magical mystery ballots?
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:22 PM, 18 Comments
One of the fascinating subplots of this whole election mess that was forgotten as quickly as it surfaced was the 22 magical mystery absentee ballots that were discovered in a King County ballot box towards the end of the manual... [read more]
"The Mexican Mafia Are Out To Get Me"
by Matt Rosenberg, 09:55 PM, 20 Comments
Monday Jan. 10, The Wall Street Journal's John Fund, an expert on vote, uh, fraud, writes about the latest in the Washington Governor's race controversy, and highlights the stellar work of Stefan Sharkansky of Sound Politics in uncovering statistical anomalies... [read more]
An Original Cartoon for Sound Politics
by Seth Cooper, 04:49 PM, 10 Comments
(Cross-blogged at my much-neglected, personal blog.)... [read more]
TNT: Rossi's Challenge Justified
by Matt Rosenberg, 03:31 PM, 14 Comments
A Sunday editorial in The Tacoma News Tribune says the unchecked provisional ballots, in particular, are legitimate cause for Republican Dino Rossi's legal challenge of Democrat Christine Gregoire's 129-vote victory in the 2004 Washington gubernatorial election. ....the counting of unscreened... [read more]
Public non-disclosure
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:23 PM, 14 Comments
Both King and Snohomish Counties told me that they could not satisfy my request to provide accurate lists of people who voted on Nov. 2 because they only keep a fresh file of currently registered voters. If that is the... [read more]
Asleep at the switch
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:49 PM, 20 Comments
Secretary of State Sam Reed issued a review in Feb. 2003 about King County's handling of the Nov. 2000 election. Here is one finding: [p. 7]The county is not consistent in their ballot enhancement procedures. The reviewer observed that ballot... [read more]
More spin and b.s.
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:49 AM, 22 Comments
Today's front page headline in the Seattle Times: "Gov.-elect says the voters never got to know her" "I don't think in the end voters ever really got to know Chris Gregoire." That's what Gregoire says about herself today as she... [read more]
Olympian: U.S. Supreme Court An Option
by Matt Rosenberg, 11:22 AM, 56 Comments
The Olympian's political editor Brad Shannon writes today that Republican candidate Dino Rossi's legal challenge to the error-plagued Washington gubernatorial election could end up in the U.S. Supreme court. It's quite possible that GOP candidate Dino Rossi's legal team or... [read more]
Incompetence by Design?
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:13 AM, 16 Comments
Remember those 348 (at least) unverified provisional ballots that were illegally and irretrievably commingled with polling place ballots? This problem was anticipated months before the election in a report by a King County oversight commitee [see pp. 47 -48]: Findings... [read more]
More Illegal Voting Found
by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:55 AM, 22 Comments
Private Radio blogger JohnnyMC has found more deceased voters in both King and Snohomish counties. He has documentary evidence. The BIAW and its volunteers keep finding more evidence of felons who voted. 52 in Pierce County, now a bunch in... [read more]
January 08, 2005
Basis for Contest of 2004 Washington Gubernatorial Election
by Brian Crouch, 02:30 PM, 101 Comments
From Rossi campaign: “[T]he right of suffrage can be denied by a debasement or dilution of the weight of a citizen’s vote just as effectively as by wholly prohibiting the free exercise of the franchise.” Gold Bar Citizens for Good... [read more]
Valedictorian despite teacher fraud
by Brian Crouch, 11:10 AM, 51 Comments
Rep. Sam Hunt, in a letter to reader Kelly McGrew, wrote the following: "We Finished the Most Accurate Vote Count in State History." "Votes have been checked, double checked and triple checked under the eyes of thousands of Democratic and... [read more]
557 Magical Mystery People
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:40 AM, 106 Comments
Here's another fascinating discovery from the latest King County voter file. [I now have four versions of the King County voter registration file, cut on June 1, Nov. 1, Dec. 29, 2004 and Jan. 7, 2005.] There are 557 names... [read more]
January 07, 2005
King County Elections Math
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:32 PM, 84 Comments
I obtained the latest copy of the King County voter list this afternoon. I'm shocked. shocked! to report that the numbers don't add up. The Elections Dept. explains that the numbers aren't supposed to add up. Even after adjusting for... [read more]
Time for a new recount...
by Brian Crouch, 05:54 PM, 79 Comments
...in a manner of speaking. Starting with the margin of "victory": 129 Let's subtract a small portion of the certain illegal votes and see what we come up with: 129 - 52 felons in Pierce - 8 dead voters in... [read more]
A Sober Decision, To Contest The Election
by Matt Rosenberg, 05:09 PM, 44 Comments
Two weeks ago here, after Christine Gregoire pulled ahead in the Washington Governor's election with a second recount, I wrote that Dino Rossi and his backers should promptly marshall strong evidence for a challenge, or stand down. Well it took... [read more]
HE WILL CONTEST
by Brian Crouch, 03:35 PM, 163 Comments
Governor-elect Dino Rossi, standing before a sign reading "Every vote should have a voter," just announced that his campaign will be contesting the election results. He said that this state must have a re-vote, under any circumstances, even if the... [read more]
Double Voter Busted
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:50 AM, 24 Comments
On Tuesday I reported a case of a probable double voter. In addition to reporting this on the blog, I also forwarded the information to King County Prosecutor Norman Maleng's office. Mr. Maleng's chief-of-staff, Dan Satterberg, who also represents Maleng... [read more]
Tips for Journalists Searching for Vote Fraud
by Jim Miller, 07:25 AM, 60 Comments
With some honorable exceptions, I have not been impressed by the coverage of the disputed governor's election. Few journalists, as I have argued before, are even willing to look into the possibility that some Republican claims may be true. That... [read more]
Voting from beyond the grave
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:43 AM, 32 Comments
Friday's Seattle Times investigates the curious phenomenon of votes cast by dead people "Voting by dead people isn't always a scam". [perhaps not always, but it very frequently is -- Ed.] The article mentions the two cases of post-mortem voting... [read more]
Dino District Democrats
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:03 AM, 19 Comments
Sources in the legislature tell me that: 1. Contrary to an earlier rumor, it does not appear that the Democrats will attempt to certify the election on Monday. 2. The D's have the votes to certify on Tuesday, and... [read more]
January 06, 2005
Nationally, Democrats Call For Recounts, Ballot Reform
by P. Scott Cummins, 05:16 PM, 64 Comments
The hypocrisy of the Democrat media machine is particularly galling today, with crocodile tears shed for John Kerry’s long-dead White House dream the focus of coverage – even as their apparatchiks defiantly breached every Congressional protocol in (what they presumed... [read more]
A signed confession
by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:08 PM, 34 Comments
It should have occurred to me late last night when I first read it, but Dean Logan's "explanation" of the thousands of discrepancies between the voter list and the precinct canvass is as good as a signed confession of massive... [read more]
Too little, too late
by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:28 PM, 34 Comments
Secretary of State Sam "What, Me Worry?" Reed proposes a package of "election reforms", which can best be described as lame-assed and too-little, too-late. Some of these ideas are not bad The 2005 Legislature prohibit third parties from collecting or... [read more]
Election Contest(s) Filed
by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:52 PM, 10 Comments
"AP Exclusive: Two court challenges filed in governor's race" Two people have filed challenges to the governor's election with the state Supreme Court, firing the first shots in the anticipated legal battle over the amazingly close contest. ... The Associated... [read more]
The pervert felon vote
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:16 PM, 43 Comments
A number of registered sex offenders have voted in King County. For some examples, go to the Level 2 and 3 registered sex offender search page and look up zip code 98104. I don't want to post any actual names,... [read more]
Snohomish County can't say who voted on Nov. 2
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:52 AM, 21 Comments
As I mentioned on Dec. 30, I found massive discrepancies between Snohomish County's voter list and its precinct canvass (which reports the number of ballots counted per precinct). I just received this explanation from the County Auditor's office: I misread... [read more]
January 05, 2005
Provisional Madness
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:29 PM, 55 Comments
The AP's Rebecca Cook reports on Chris Vance' press conference earlier today Hundreds of provisional ballots may have been counted on Election Day without being verified, state Republican Party Chairman Chris Vance said today. ... Vance said the admission by... [read more]
Another deceased voter
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:59 PM, 25 Comments
Charles H. Kinnune, Sr. a lifelong resident of Issaquah passed away on September 16, 2004. His absentee ballot was cast and counted in the November election. Gregoire carried Mr. Kinnune's precinct by a handful of votes. But of course it's... [read more]
The most accurate election in state history
by Brian Crouch, 08:22 PM, 42 Comments
Ignoring the landslide election of Billy Jenkins to class president of a 3-pupil school in Twisp, Paul Berendt out-absurds even the Seattle PI (which called this a generally well-conducted laughingstock election): Dear Friend, [or enemy--ed.] Last Thursday the Secretary of... [read more]
On the radio with the Rabbi
by Brian Crouch, 04:36 PM, 9 Comments
Just an early head's up: Stefan Sharkansky will be a guest of Rabbi Daniel Lapin on the Toward Tradition radio show, 7pm Sunday, January 9th, discussing the election and the grassroots teamwork that has developed over this issue. As a... [read more]
A Question For Our Democratic Friends
by Jim Miller, 03:50 PM, 61 Comments
This morning I was listening to talk show host (and Democratic Congressional candidate) Dave Ross and heard him dismiss the evidence that the gubernatorial election was tainted, if not by fraud then by the poor procedures, especially in King County.... [read more]
What, Me Worry?
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:14 PM, 48 Comments
Today's Spokesman-Review catches our state's ranking Democrats and top elections officials in a psychotic state of denial "Based on the information that we've seen and results certified to us by the counties, we are comfortable with the results," said Nick... [read more]
Deceased Voter Found
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:53 AM, 41 Comments
It saddens me to report that a ballot was cast in the name of a deceased person. Anne M. Witte passed away in February 2004. Her obituary reports that Mrs. Witte lived in Sammamish with her husband Vernon E Witte,... [read more]
Another Smoking Gun
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:37 AM, 89 Comments
Wednesday's Seattle Times explains some of the astonishing discrepancy between the number of ballots cast and the number of voters who voted: An unknown number of provisional voters, some of whom may not even have been registered to vote, improperly... [read more]
Jan. 11: A critical day for democracy
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:02 AM, 28 Comments
Next Tuesday, January 11 is a critical day in the fight for democracy and to prevent a coup d'etat in this state. That is the day the legislature is scheduled to vote on ratifying the election. Governor-pretend Fraudoire is... [read more]
January 04, 2005
The Learned Hand
by Brian Crouch, 05:04 PM, 43 Comments
WSJ's John Fund was on Hugh Hewitt's show claims that handwriting analysis of 400 Washington absentee ballots reveal that they were written in the same hand... developing... Will post more when we have something linkable. Stay tuned. UPDATE: by Seth... [read more]
Must-See TV
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:46 PM, 32 Comments
KING5 TV did a shocking exposee of vote fraud in King County -- back in March 1998. Will Baker, the, er, "untraditional" Republican candidate for State Auditor has the videos posted on his website. The videos speak for themselves. Do... [read more]
Viewer Mail
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:17 PM, 11 Comments
A well-known reporter for one of the local daily newspapers e-mails: Just wanted to say you are doing a good job asking tough questions about the election. I don't always agree with your conclusions, but mining the data for inconsistencies... [read more]
"But we always do a crappy job"
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:50 AM, 21 Comments
It's not just King County. The Washington GOP announced yesterday that several of the largest counties have huge unexplained discrepancies, for a total of 8,400 more ballots than voters. The response from election officials is "Don't worry, be happy. We... [read more]
Flash: Likely Double Voter Found
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:00 AM, 49 Comments
This is either a case of double voting or one amazing coinky-dink. Two absentee votes were cast by people named Dustin S OCoilain. The first Dustin S OCoilain registered on February 25, 2004 listing his residence as 77 S Washington... [read more]
The Smoking Gun
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:53 AM, 52 Comments
As I noted briefly this afternoon, I've found some discrepancies that are in some ways more serious and unexplainable than the ones I reported last night here. I consider this to be a smoking gun -- not for fraud... [read more]
January 03, 2005
Passing Grades
by Jim Miller, 04:40 PM, 62 Comments
How many local journalists deserve them for their coverage of the disputed Gregoire-Rossi gubernatorial election? Not many, at least not many that I have seen. Maybe I am too harsh a grader. I would fail any journalist who says "count... [read more]
More "Enron Math" in King County
by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:51 PM, 53 Comments
My promised scoop that I broke on the Dori Monson Show: I found a specific case of ballotless voters. Three precincts that share a polling place in Issaquah [2602, 3464 and "Gilman"] where the total number of voting voters noticeably... [read more]
Don't Be Bullied: Be Like Mandy!
by P. Scott Cummins, 01:56 PM, 21 Comments
“Political thuggery is on the rise in America.” So says Thomas Lifson of The American Thinker. Overwhelmingly directed at the right, to the extent it cannot be ignored by the media – they lampoon its impact. Of particular concern were... [read more]
Help toss out this election
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:33 PM, 15 Comments
Many readers have asked how they can help mine the county voter databases for indications of illegal voting and other irregularities. The short answer is: Yes, please! The longer answer is: Here is what you have to do to get... [read more]
A disenfranchised serviceman
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:40 AM, 8 Comments
Reader Erik Kessler e-mails: My brother, Joseph Owens, is stationed in Japan in the Navy. He has been on leave over the Holidays and I spoke to him this weekend and he told me a very discouraging story. He's a... [read more]
Tie an Orange Ribbon
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:10 AM, 7 Comments
Garret Treadwell, who operates the We The People website is now selling Orange Washington bumperstickers and ribbon magnets:I have Orange Ribbon stickers and Revote stickers. Orange Ribbons: let freedom ring, our military counts, we the people, our vote counts 4X6... [read more]
Shark Radio
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:59 AM, 14 Comments
I'll be on the Dori Monson Show 710 KIRO this afternoon at 2pm. Tune in and hear me break the news of some freshly discovered discrepancies in the vote count that I won't have time to post until later today!... [read more]
"They're everywhere! They don't know they're dead... they keep voting!" -The 6th Sense
by Brian Crouch, 10:25 AM, 26 Comments
I've heard God can't cash out-of-state checks in Heaven, but does He send down absentee ballots? Intrepid SoundPolitics reader Michael Nervik pulled published death notices from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer for August 25th, 2004, then cross-checked the results with the King... [read more]
January 02, 2005
King County Elections "Enron Math"
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:35 PM, 54 Comments
The King County Elections scandal, along with its many other disturbing facets, is a kind of an accounting scandal, not unlike Fannie Mae or Enron. Because the numbers simply don't add up. After three "certified" vote counts, the numbers... [read more]
A ‘No Vote’ Ballot Counted As A Gregoire Vote
by Brian Crouch, 04:52 PM, 31 Comments
Reader Brian Thomas forwarded us the following very detailed letter describing his experience as a recount worker. Click extended entry to read the whole thing. Such confidence of a "no vote" should mean a "vote of no confidence," in this... [read more]
"Together we are many. We cannot be defeated "
by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:28 AM, 31 Comments
The Ukraine democracy movement had its favorite protest song: "Razom nas bahato": "Together we are many. We cannot be defeated" We have our own songs to protest our total mess of an election ("God Bless America" is one of my... [read more]
January 01, 2005
Another disenfranchised voter
by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:13 PM, 65 Comments
UPDATE: Good news! The first mystery seems to have been solved. Kevin DeGraaf is on the books as both "DeGraaf" and "De Graaf". DeGraaf didn't vote, but De Graaf did. Kevin's vote was counted (once). Thanks to the reader who... [read more]
ReVoteWA.com (redux)
by Stefan Sharkansky, 06:19 PM, 22 Comments
Yesterday we noted the new (orange) website ReVoteWA.com. Here's an explanatory note from Sharon Gilpin, whose political consulting firm the Gilpin Group is behind the site: I have been called a streetfighter by the LA Times - and this is... [read more]
Bombshell: More signs of fraud in Precinct 1823
by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:48 PM, 39 Comments
Seattle's Precinct 1823 counted 343 ballots, which is 71 more ballots than the 272 voters who cast them. This is the single largest discrepancy between ballots and voters in all of King County. Nearly all of the discrepancy is... [read more]
Hey WaPo: When you're in over your head, stop shoveling
by Brian Crouch, 01:34 PM, 25 Comments
With nothing else to write about on the first day of the new year, the Washington Post experiments with condescending finger-wagging. (Eh, what's that? They do it all the time?): Such an idea [revoting] may work to resolve a close... [read more]
December 31, 2004
December Timeline
by Brian Crouch, 11:59 PM, 0 Comments
December 2004 Dec. 1: Democratic National Committee (Gregoire) sends out “Action Alert” with poor math: “Only 42 votes separate my Republican opponent and me. That's a difference of 0.0014 percent. The error for voting machines is somewhere between... [read more]
That Abysmal Media
by Brian Crouch, 02:51 PM, 50 Comments
The Seattle P-I is misfiring on all cylinders today. They begin a calumny masquerading as an editorial by exposing fatal ignorance: Absolutely preposterous. Dino Rossi's call for a rerun of the governor's election has no basis, at least so far.And... [read more]
Total Meltdown in King County Voter List
by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:50 PM, 55 Comments
It was last reported that there were 3,539 more ballots counted in King County than voters who cast them. The discrepancy is actually much larger. The 3,539 is only the net. This comes from having roughly 1,500 more voters than... [read more]
ReVote Washington
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:18 PM, 40 Comments
A new website dedicated to pushing for a revote: ReVoteWA.com. There's a petition to the legislature demanding a revote that can be signed on-line or in person. The website's background color is appropriately orange!... [read more]
More suspicious numbers in the King County handcount
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:18 PM, 20 Comments
Been spending more time analyzing the newly posted precinct canvass of the King County manual recount, and the differences with the canvass of the machine recount. The story seems to be that at every opportunity where new ballots were somehow... [read more]
"Smoking Gun"
by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:04 AM, 74 Comments
The Seattle Times' David Postman credits me with finding what could be the "smoking gun" to overturn the election: The latest questions about King County came after the elections office released on Wednesday a list of all registered voters in... [read more]
Precinct 3301
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:34 AM, 20 Comments
Precinct FED 30-3301, or simply Precinct 3301, is located in Federal Way in south King County off I-5. I've never been there and I don't know much about it except that it helps illustrate why this election, in Dino... [read more]
December 30, 2004
The Seattle Times' Misleading Database
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:16 PM, 8 Comments
The Seattle Times website has now posted a nifty tool where you can look up King County voters in their database and it's supposed to tell you if and how they voted. [It appears to be based on the same... [read more]
"No, Attorney General, this isn’t ‘golf’ "
by Brian Crouch, 08:58 PM, 14 Comments
Press release from the Governor's office:With so many disenfranchised military voters, how can this be a fair election? Bellevue, WA – Today Dino Rossi stood with the family of a disenfranchised Marine from Snohomish County to again call for a... [read more]
Orange Ribbon
by Andy MacDonald, 06:38 PM, 44 Comments
Reader Robyn Goodwin writes: I am starting a grassroots efforts here in Thurston County, WA. to encourage everyone who sees that this election was a mess, to tie an orange ribbon on their car antennae (the color that the opposition... [read more]
Ukraine County No More
by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:17 PM, 69 Comments
You may have noticed that I've stopped calling King County "Ukraine County". The people of Ukraine have taken their democracy back. It would be an insult to the proud and heroic Ukrainians to equate them with King County. UPDATE: To... [read more]
Tipping Point
by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:48 PM, 35 Comments
Dino Rossi's invitation to Christine Gregoire to join him in asking for a revote was a brilliant move and may well be remembered as the tipping point of this contest. The smart thing for Gregoire to have done would have... [read more]
Residence, Schmesidence
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:12 PM, 36 Comments
As we've mentioned before, hundreds of people in King County have registered to vote giving their "permanent residence" at an address where they obviously don't live. In addition to bona fide homeless people who are permitted by agency rules to... [read more]
An Open Letter to Sec. of State Sam Reed
by Brian Crouch, 09:23 AM, 51 Comments
This was sent to us this morning. All edits in brackets: Dear Sam, We know each other well, and have mutually served together and supported each other for many years -- as a result I call upon our relationship to... [read more]
A Tale of Disenfranchisement
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:30 AM, 22 Comments
Seattle resident Betsy Conrad has been registered to vote in King County since 1986 and is a permanent absentee voter. The database shows that King County accepted her ballot in the September 14 primary, but not in the general election.... [read more]
Snohomish County's Numbers Don't Add Up
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:11 AM, 9 Comments
It's not only King County that has a problem adding voters and adding ballots and coming up with the same numbers. Snohomish County wins 2nd Prize in today's Horse's Math vote counting contest. Snohomish County's official "certified" manual recount... [read more]
December 29, 2004
conspicuous by its absence: media scrutiny
by Brian Crouch, 07:55 PM, 35 Comments
If I was composing an article such as this (or any of these) for a news service like the AP, I'd be inclined to at least mention the Washington state election irregularities (prefaced with the standard "alleged") including, but not... [read more]
Dino Rossi speaks
by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:45 PM, 57 Comments
Dino Rossi speaking at this moment (on KVI): This election has been a total mess. A total mess. ... It's also people's faith in the process. That's what's at stake right now. He read a letter that he wrote to... [read more]
FLASH: King County Numbers Don't Add Up
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:46 PM, 69 Comments
King County is still unable to provide conclusive information to validate their vote count. The voter file, which I obtained earlier today, contains the names of only 895,660 voters recorded as voting on Nov. 2, a significant discrepancy from its... [read more]
The Sour Lesson Of Bob Dornan's Defeat
by Jim Miller, 12:55 PM, 22 Comments
In 1995, Republican Congressman Bob Dornan, who had represented two different Southern California districts, starting in 1976, decided to run for president. He had great fun for about a year, but spent most of his campaign funds and neglected his... [read more]
"This whole vote," she said, "is a big joke."
by Brian Crouch, 10:58 AM, 17 Comments
With non-plussed gratitude, we point you to Robert Jamieson's fine column from a paper with whom we have been somewhat inimical, the Seattle P-I:Democracy isn't impeccable. Mistakes can and do happen. Ballots may get lost or delayed in the mail.... [read more]
Where we're at
by Stefan Sharkansky, 06:00 AM, 43 Comments
I don't expect to post very much over the next few days while I focus on (a) wrapping up my business affairs for the end of the year, and (b) examining the voter lists that have been promised to be... [read more]
December 28, 2004
Count every voter
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:27 PM, 55 Comments
I've now sent Public Disclosure Requests to the elections departments of King, Snohomish and San Juan counties asking for the following information: a list of all X County voters who submitted ballots in the Nov. 2, 2004 election. This list... [read more]
A Review Of Distributed Vote Fraud
by Jim Miller, 07:56 AM, 38 Comments
Because it is almost certain that Christine Gregoire's 130 vote lead in Washington state's governor's race comes from what I have begun to call "distributed vote fraud", I thought I should review the concept. The ideas behind distributed vote fraud... [read more]
December 27, 2004
I Wish I Had Been Proved Wrong
by Jim Miller, 05:56 PM, 56 Comments
Before the election, I argued many times that the widespread use of absentee ballots was an invitation to fraud. There is nothing original in that argument; anyone who examined cases of vote fraud for a year or so would come... [read more]
WSRP asks the hard questions
by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:16 PM, 13 Comments
I heard WSRP chairman Chris Vance speaking with Kirby Wilbur on KVI this afternoon. The state GOP has filed a comprehensive public disclosure request of King County this afternoon to shed light on all of the perceived irregularities. The GOP... [read more]
Vote Fraud for Dummies
by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:41 PM, 41 Comments
In case you're wondering how trivial of a matter it is to commit vote fraud, here are some simple instructions. Any dummy can do this, and you'd be a dummy yourself if you think that this doesn't already happen often.... [read more]
King County to release voter list on Wednesday
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:12 PM, 28 Comments
King County promises to release its voter list on Wednesday. An official at the BIAW tells me that his organization submitted a public disclosure request for the list as early as Dec. 3, and that this request has not yet... [read more]
Hundreds of bogus registrations found in Seattle
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:20 PM, 29 Comments
Add this to the list of King County voter irregularities. Hundreds of "Seattle voters" list as their residence address various private mailbox services and storage rental facilities. This would seem to be inconsistent with the state's legal definition of residence... [read more]
Release the names
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:28 AM, 32 Comments
The public really needs to see the list of names of everybody who voted in every county. The lists should contain for every voter whose ballot was accepted: Name, voter id, precinct, address, year of birth, type of ballot (absentee,... [read more]
December 26, 2004
Viewer Mail
by Stefan Sharkansky, 06:08 PM, 16 Comments
A reader in Maple Valley e-mails with some very good points: Dear Sound Politics, You guys have a great website. It has been wonderful to catch sight of issues that the TV news, radio to a lesser extent, and print... [read more]
Sexless Voters?
by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:58 PM, 10 Comments
State law requires that every county maintain certain information on every voter: The computer file must include, but not be limited to, each voter's last name, first name, middle initial, date of birth, residence address, gender, date of registration, applicable... [read more]
A blank canvas
by Brian Crouch, 03:24 PM, 8 Comments
In an article by Chris McGann of the Seattle After-intelligence Post-Intelligencer, a subtle lapsus calami reveals much:Borrowing the rhetoric from the Democrats, Rossi says it's all about having every legitimate vote be counted. "Whether your signature was mistakenly challenged or... [read more]
Garbage In, Garbage Out
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:50 AM, 20 Comments
One of the (many) reasons to set aside our tainted gubernatorial race is because King Ukraine County's voter information database is full of garbage. Leaving aside the thousands of questionable registrations that we'll continue to document, the database simply... [read more]
New Election
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:20 AM, 17 Comments
If the Ukraine can hold a new election to settle a tainted election, then so can the State of Washington. The Seattle Times David Postman explains some of the legal mechanisms that we could use to make it happen: Q:... [read more]
December 25, 2004
What Should Dino Rossi Do?
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:53 PM, 46 Comments
Nothing. At least nothing in public at this time. His Christmas message already said all that needs to be said: “I know many Washingtonians are hoping this will end soon, but I’m also sure that people across this state want... [read more]
Seasons Greetings, Ukrainian Style
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:14 PM, 10 Comments
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of our friends and readers in King Ukraine County, Washington State and around the world. Extra special wishes to our brothers and sisters in the Ukraine who have set an example... [read more]
December 24, 2004
Unfunny Surprises
by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:07 PM, 28 Comments
The following table illustrates how some of the various county recounts produced surprising results. Specifically, I wanted to see how the newly added ballots in each count were distributed. (where "newly added" means previously unexamineed ballots, or former undervote/overvotes... [read more]
Ballots roasting on an open fire
by Brian Crouch, 12:07 PM, 24 Comments
FYI to Dino Rossi supporters -- this evening the following statement went out... FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Mary Lane Dec. 23, 2004 (425) 646-7202 Bellevue, WA – Today Dino Rossi issued the following statement: “This is supposed to be the... [read more]
December 23, 2004
Next Time, Dino?
by Matt Rosenberg, 08:46 PM, 110 Comments
The whole thing smells funny and tastes real crappy, but there is no proof of fraud, or of enough disenfranchised R voters to reverse the latest numbers. If that assertion is wrong, let WA R operatives and/or lawyers go forth... [read more]
FLASH
by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:33 PM, 131 Comments
KING5 reports King County officials: Disputed ballots boost Gregoire by 120 votes SEATTLE — The canvassing board for King County approved the counting of 566 out of 732 mistakenly rejected ballots in the hand recount of Washington’s incredibly tight governor’s... [read more]
Count every vote (they feel like counting)
by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:31 PM, 15 Comments
Rossi spokeswoman Mary Lane speaking on the John Carlson Show moments ago (I paraphrase): The King Ukraine County canvassing board voted not to count a batch of 96 ballots whose voters complained were improperly rejected by election workers. The canvassing... [read more]
Not my governor-elect
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:00 PM, 27 Comments
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is spinning like a whirling dervish to help Christine Gregoire arrogate a legitimate victory. "Third time may be a charm for Gregoire" Riding two huge wins yesterday, Democrat Christine Gregoire appears to have undone Republican Dino Rossi's... [read more]
That Sam I Am
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:17 AM, 19 Comments
I am Sam. Sam I am. That Sam I am, that Sam I am.... Secretary of State Sam Reed shovels a load of happy talk on the op-ed page of this morning's Seattle Times: Solid procedures are in place to... [read more]
One Answer, Maybe
by Jim Miller, 06:47 AM, 39 Comments
Susan Gilmore of the Seattle Times claims that the King County canvassing board has not been partisan. The three-member panel, which decides which ballots are eligible to be counted and certifies election returns, is made up of two Democrats and... [read more]
December 22, 2004
Eyewitness Report from Chernobyl
by Stefan Sharkansky, 08:37 PM, 58 Comments
A friend who's been deeply involved in the King Ukraine County manual "recount" e-mails: When the hand count was complete at the Tukwila facility, it was my understanding from talking to the floor managers, that Rossi was still in the... [read more]
Ukrainian Roulette
by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:56 PM, 64 Comments
47 votes were "corrected" and awarded to Christine Gregoire 12 votes were "corrected" and taken from Dino Rossi. Net result Gregoire: +59! This is analogous to flipping a coin 59 times and getting tails every single time. In this case,... [read more]
Ten Votes
by Jim Miller, 04:22 PM, 32 Comments
That's the current statewide margin for Chris Gregoire. Here's the entire news alert from Komo 4. King County reported +59 votes for Gregoire, giving Gregoire the overall lead in the statewide manual recount by 10 votes. This does not count... [read more]
God Works In Mysterious Ways
by Jim Miller, 04:00 PM, 17 Comments
This morning on the Dave Ross talk show (currently being hosted by substitute Allan Prell), Democratic state party chairman Paul Berendt said, speaking of Democratic candidate Christine Gregoire, that "God has placed her" in the governor's office. To his credit,... [read more]
FLASH
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:30 PM, 56 Comments
KING5 reports: OLYMPIA, Wash. — The Supreme Court of Washington has decided that over 700 disputed King County ballots should be included in recount for Washington governor - a decision that could very well decide the astoundingly close race between... [read more]
Shark Radio
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:05 PM, 6 Comments
I was just invited to speak on the Dori Monson Show, 710 KIRO in Seattle, right after the 1pm news. I'll also be on the Stephanie Sandlin Show, KSBN 1230, Spokane during the 5pm hour today... [read more]
Precinct 1823
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:26 AM, 99 Comments
Crunching the data in the King Ukraine County voter registration file, I came across precinct SEA 37-1823, or simply Precinct 1823, located in downtown Seattle between Elliot Bay and I-5 near the James St. exit. Precinct 1823 has 763 registered... [read more]
December 21, 2004
Raining on Gregoire's parade
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:45 PM, 90 Comments
Not to rain on Christine Gregoire's parade, but it is December in Seattle and if it's going to rain, it might as well rain on Gregoire's Ukrainian victory parade. We don't know yet what King Ukraine County's recount report... [read more]
Ukrainian Democrats Claim Victory
by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:06 PM, 72 Comments
Democrats: King Ukraine County recount puts Gregoire on top THE ASSOCIATED PRESS OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Democratic State Party Chairman Paul Berendt says recount results from King County give Democrat Christine Gregoire an eight-vote statewide victory over Republican Dino Rossi in... [read more]
The 573 Magical Mystery Ballots, Redux
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:19 PM, 36 Comments
Yesterday I obtained a copy of the latest King Ukraine County voter registration file (updated Nov. 1) so I could learn more about the 573 allegedly disenfranchinsed magical mystery voters. Here are just the first things I've discovered. There... [read more]
Yes, disqualify all of the magical mystery ballots
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:59 AM, 9 Comments
Today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer makes the astonishing discovery that according to filings with the high court, at least five other counties added ballots to recounts that weren't included in their original gubernatorial tallies I'm shocked! shocked! Oh, wait, no I'm not.... [read more]
Chernobyl
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:42 AM, 14 Comments
I spent a good part of Monday afternoon at the King Ukraine County Records and Elections, which is the electoral equivalent of a Chernobyl nuclear disaster. * I first stopped by the Records and Election office [photo], in order to... [read more]
December 20, 2004
Count Every Vote, Legal Or Illegal
by Jim Miller, 02:08 PM, 31 Comments
That's the position of the New York Times on Washington's gubernatorial election and San Diego's mayoralty election. In the San Diego case, the illegality of the ballots in question does not appear to be in doubt, but the New York... [read more]
Elway Poll Results
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:20 PM, 22 Comments
The Rossi campaign has just released the results of an Elway poll which shows that the state's voters believe: 1) If Rossi prevails in the manual recount, he should be accepted as the legitimate Governor. 2) If Gregoire increases her... [read more]
Daily Briefs
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:11 PM, 0 Comments
Both the Times and the P-I have articles today about the newly released documents showing that the Ukraine County elections office attempted unsuccessfully to verify signatures for the 561 573 595 735 723 magical mystery ballots, even before the first... [read more]
ELECTION RERUN?
by Seth Cooper, 08:38 AM, 24 Comments
Yet another sobering "John Fund on the Campaign Trail" column is out today, focusing upon our State's election debacle. Voter confidence in our election diminishes with each new King County shenanigan and each Christine Gregoire election lawsuit. Also, Fund's column... [read more]
December 19, 2004
FLASH
by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:30 PM, 33 Comments
Wednesday, August 16, 2006 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SEATTLE, Wash. -- Only three days after Gov. Dino Rossi was finally inaugurated, we have yet another strange wrinkle in Washington's bizarre gubernatorial race. More than 93 weeks after the closest election in... [read more]
More Data On Distributed Vote Fraud
by Jim Miller, 08:14 PM, 2 Comments
Today's article in the Seattle Times, describing how ballot checks vary in Washington's counties, has some numbers that, indirectly, support my rough estimates on the amount of "distributed vote fraud" in Washington state. (Unfortunately, the table containing the numbers does... [read more]
More about the magical mystery ballots
by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:45 PM, 12 Comments
Here is yet another fascinating detail about the 561 573 595 735 723 Ukrainian magical mystery ballots that were found in a samovar last week. From a memo by King County Superintendent of Elections Bill Huennekens that was offered in... [read more]
Ukrainian History Lesson
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:25 PM, 21 Comments
When we think of the Ukraine County Elections office, we think of the recent fiasco involving the 400 rejected provisional ballots corrected by weeping Democratic party officials, the 717 surgically enhanced haruspex ballots and the 336 magical mystery ballots that... [read more]
December 18, 2004
Here's a Weird Thought
by Jim Miller, 03:40 PM, 18 Comments
Which official has lost most in this series of blunders (on the best interpretation) by the King County elections office? The head of King County elections, Dean Logan, right? Logan was brought in to reform the office. Suppose that someone... [read more]
December 17, 2004
Spokane
by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:49 PM, 56 Comments
Spokane County just reported. A net gain of +7 for Rossi, leaving him with a total +8 gain in the recounted counties to a net lead of 154,759. Gregoire won King County in the machine recount with a lead of... [read more]
FLASH
by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:11 PM, 51 Comments
KING 5 reports: A judge in Pierce County Superior Court has ruled that the 723 disputed ballots in King County, Wash., should not be included in the ballot recount for Washington state governor. The AP has more. I think we... [read more]
Ukraine Follies
by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:23 PM, 18 Comments
As I noted yesterday in response to Dean Logan's surreal non-explanation of the 573 magical mystery ballots: It makes you wonder what other idiotic procedures they have in place, and what other errors they're making and not discovering, or discovering... [read more]
Pierce County
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:47 PM, 11 Comments
Pierce County reported. Here is how the two-party votes fell: Absentee Ballots Gregoire Rossi Rossi Percentage Machine Recount 145,199 157,704 52.064% Manual Recount 145,431 157,905 52.056% Pickup in new ballots +232 +201 46.42% Expected breakdown of new ballots +208... [read more]
Snohomish Anomaly Still Unexplained
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:10 AM, 38 Comments
The Everett Herald offers this explanation of Gregoire's 44 vote pickup. results of the hand recount favored Gregoire, reflecting where the candidates drew their most electoral support. She won 51 percent of mail ballot votes while Rossi won 53... [read more]
All You Need Is The Punch Line
by Jim Miller, 07:03 AM, 44 Comments
Yesterday, suspecting that the re-recount in King County had become a universal joke, I tried out just the punch line at a local Safeway and a local McDonald's. In each case, I just said, with no set up line, that... [read more]
December 16, 2004
Ukrainian Rules
by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:30 PM, 54 Comments
The Washington State Republican Party says that the Ukraine County Democrats are changing the rules: This morning the King County Elections Department announced to ballot counters that it is changing the rules it had previously set on counting votes. King... [read more]
Recount Scoreboard
by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:11 PM, 19 Comments
Snohomish County just reported, reducing Rossi's lead by 44 votes. It's fair to assume that any newly discovered ballots would be distributed to the two candidates based on their share of the previous vote counts. In this case, 194... [read more]
Routine Vote Counting Error
by Jim Miller, 01:44 PM, 6 Comments
That's what I find in this article describing the re-recount in Clark County. A manual recount of Clark County ballots unearthed 58 previously unrecorded votes for governor, with Republican Dino Rossi increasing his lead over Democrat Christine Gregoire by two... [read more]
Ukrainian Surrealism
by Stefan Sharkansky, 07:00 AM, 58 Comments
The Ukraine County canvassing board voted Wednesday afternoon to start to verify the latest batch of 573 magical mystery ballots. There are many strange things about these ballots. 1. As noted earlier, they are heavily and inexplicably biased toward precincts... [read more]
December 15, 2004
Recount Scoreboard
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:52 PM, 4 Comments
Here's your latest all-you-need-to-know scoreboard for the manual recount. As of Wednesday PM, all counties have reported except for the four largest -- Pierce, Snohomish, Spokane and Ukraine. The complete scoreboard is below, but here is something to consider.... [read more]
Whatcom
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:54 PM, 56 Comments
Whatcom County reported, adding slightly to Rossi's lead. I'll update the full fancy table later this evening. The punchline: I calculate that Ukraine County needs to add 125 votes to Gregoire's lead in order to reverse Rossi's double victory. The... [read more]
Ukraine County Update
by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:04 AM, 113 Comments
My preliminary analysis of the 573 (was 561) (who knows what it will be tomorrow) Ukrainian magical mystery absentee ballots is that they are drawn from precincts that voted 63% Gregoire, 37% Rossi, as opposed to Ukraine County as a... [read more]
December 14, 2004
Recount Observer Report
by Stefan Sharkansky, 07:10 PM, 57 Comments
From a Republican friend who's been observing the festivities at the Ukraine County manual recount in Tukwila: Today, Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2004 marked the completion of the sorting of all absentee ballots into their proper precincts (except for those mis-sorted).... [read more]
Recount Scoreboard
by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:06 PM, 78 Comments
Here's is your definitive cut-to-the-chase scoreboard for the manual recount. UPDATE Time: Tuesday, Dec. 14, 4:40pm [includes Chelan, Clark, Cowlitz, Franklin, Grant, Klickitat, Okanagan, Whitman] NOTE: I'm compressing and combining the two tables I had earlier. The new item,... [read more]
Things that make you go hmmm.
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:50 PM, 8 Comments
Quoted in today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer article about rejected absentee ballots: Twenty-six year-old Miles Erickson, who attended Monday's Supreme Court hearing, said he is angry about the way the state handles elections. He moved from Seattle to Birch Bay near Bellingham... [read more]
Daily Briefs
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:02 AM, 58 Comments
The State Supreme Court has rejected the Democrats' request to review all previously rejected ballots. A welcome relief. The Seattle Times' David Postman has more -- The Department of Social and Health Services appears to be obstructing State Auditor Brian... [read more]
December 13, 2004
Horse Math Alert
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:07 PM, 26 Comments
Our good friends over at the Horse's Math blog (think of a circus horse that pretends to count to three by stomping its hoof) continue to perform math tricks for their readers. I thought I’d take a look at a... [read more]
Here and There
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:52 AM, 13 Comments
The State Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments this afternoon at 1:30 in the Democrats' suit to change the rules for manual recounts. The Olympian reports that the oral arguments will be covered live via TVW, Channel 23, and by... [read more]
December 10, 2004
"Now or never"
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:45 PM, 14 Comments
Dino Rossi needs YOU to help out as a recount observer. A Sound Politics reader e-mails: My wife spent the day as a Republican observer at the recount center near the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field. She says that... [read more]
Some Democrats Won't Give Up the Governor's Office
by Jim Miller, 02:27 PM, 29 Comments
Until their cold dead fingers are dragged away from it. That's how I interpret this story. Even if Republican Dino Rossi wins the hand recount of the state’s extraordinary governor’s race, a never-before-used provision in the state constitution could allow... [read more]
Governor for All of Washington
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:30 AM, 3 Comments
Even though the Democrats have been trying to overturn his two election count victories through legal manoeuvres, Governor-Elect Dino Rossi is acting like a Governor-Elect, travelling the state, meeting constituents and showing his support for various community groups. In the... [read more]
December 09, 2004
Recount by the numbers
by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:54 PM, 34 Comments
Here are some interesting numbers to mull over: Counties reported: 10, representing ~4% of the statewide vote Rossi's lead over Gregoire in the counties that have reported: +683, or a margin of +0.6686% Net new two-party votes since the machine... [read more]
What she didn't know ...
by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:22 PM, 5 Comments
Christine Gregoire claims that she didn't know about the Democrats' motion to the Supreme Court to count all of the previously rejected ballots: Gregoire, a career attorney and three-term Democratic attorney general, said she didn't see the suit before it... [read more]
T-r-e-n-d
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:06 PM, 32 Comments
As mentioned by some commenters in previous posts, recount numbers continue to trickle in. In addition to yesterday's reports from Mason and Garfield, Skamania and Wahkiakum have reported today. Rossi ended yesterday +45. His lead has now grown to +46.... [read more]
Another Guesstimate On Distributed Vote Fraud
by Jim Miller, 08:28 AM, 13 Comments
In this post, I described the problem of "distributed vote fraud" and in this following post, I gave it that name. (If you missed those posts, what I mean by "distributed vote fraud" is the illegal votes cast by... [read more]
December 08, 2004
Into the abyss
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:11 PM, 26 Comments
Oh dear, I leave my desk for only a couple of hours and when I come back I find dozens of emails informing me that two counties have turned in their manual recounts already, increasing Dino Rossi's lead to 45... [read more]
Imaginary Playmates
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:09 PM, 17 Comments
Yesterday's Seattle Post-Intelligencer has a delightful front-page story about psychological research on young children and their imaginary playmates. a 7-year-old boy, described his pal "Skateboard Guy" as an invisible 11-year-old who lived in his pocket and popped up at boring... [read more]
Vote Counting Reseach
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:02 AM, 15 Comments
A few days ago I mentioned a research paper about errror rates in vote counting that could conceivably shed light on the recount fiasco here in Washington. The paper is called "Using Recounts to Measure the Accuracy of Vote Tabulations:... [read more]
December 07, 2004
Late-Nite Recount Roundup
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:58 PM, 27 Comments
Sheesh. There's so much happening, we need to do recount roundups several times a day now. -- Mac at the "Pull On Superman's Cape" blog has a report from Dino Rossi's "Don't Change the Rules" Rally this evening -- The... [read more]
"That was then, this is now"
by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:27 PM, 25 Comments
You can't get any more hypocritical than this. Christine Gregoire and the Sorelosercrats are now filing suits to change the vote counting rules for their second recount. But during a 1996 recount, Attorney General Christine Gregoire advised the Secretary of... [read more]
Recount Roundup
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:45 AM, 18 Comments
King County is hiring ballot counters supplied by the parties, so that all ballots will be counted by a team of three: One Republican appointee, one Democrat appointee and one county employee. The Democrats object to this, apparently believing that... [read more]
December 06, 2004
Elway Poll: No New Ballots in Recount
by Matt Rosenberg, 05:38 PM, 12 Comments
Surveying 405 registered Washington voters yesterday for the Republican Governors Association, independent Seattle pollster Stuart Elway found that by a margin of 68 percent to 25 percent, voters do not approve of uncounted ballots being tallied in the upcoming hand... [read more]
Recount Madness
by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:51 PM, 27 Comments
Today's Associated Press story confirms what we learned from Sec. of State Sam Reed two weeks ago: Snohomish and Yakima Counties will conduct their hand recount by printing out paper records of tens of thousands of electronic votes for which... [read more]
December 04, 2004
What Kind Of People Don't Know How To Vote?
by Jim Miller, 03:36 PM, 25 Comments
Democrats, mostly. That's the conclusion I draw from latest Ohio election results. President Bush's victory over Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., in Ohio was closer than the unofficial election night totals showed, according to county-by-county results made available Friday, but... [read more]
Horsing around with statistics
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:01 AM, 21 Comments
My good friend David Goldstein of the Horse Manure blog ("straight poop" from the Horse's Ass, in his own words) dumps a pile of horse product on his readers with his posting about error rates in vote counting machines: With... [read more]
December 03, 2004
Full state hand job here we come!
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:35 PM, 89 Comments
This just in Less than a day after Democrat Christine Gregoire vowed to concede the race for governor unless Democrats come up with enough money for a full rather than partial vote recount, her party said it had the money... [read more]
Bad Cop, Bad Cop
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:48 AM, 9 Comments
Christine Gregoire and Paul Berendt seem to be trying to play a form of "Good Cop, Bad Cop" Democrat Christine Gregoire says she will concede the governor's race to Dino Rossi today unless her party raises enough money for a... [read more]
December 02, 2004
"Count every vote"? Riiiight
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:21 PM, 30 Comments
The Gregoire/Kerry/Muckleshoot campaign is now threatening to sue every last one of us unless all of the previously disqualified ballots are counted again. Then again, you know that they'll still sue every last one of us if Gregoire loses for... [read more]
Gregoire Might Concede
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:49 AM, 53 Comments
Just posted at the Seattle Times: "Gregoire says recount the whole state or don't recount at all" Democrat Christine Gregoire said this morning that if her party doesn't raise the money for a statewide recount, she will concede the governor's... [read more]
Screwing the Taxpayers
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:20 AM, 3 Comments
KING5-TV reports that "Small districts bear cost of election recount" Because of the way that election costs are apportioned, any district that had a candidate race or initiative on the ballot this November will be stuck with the rest of... [read more]
Recount Follies (ctd.)
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:36 AM, 20 Comments
Even though John Kerry didn't have the chance to recount and litigate his way into the White House, he's doing his bit to help try to steal the election for Christine Gregoire: Former presidential candidate John Kerry contributed at least... [read more]
December 01, 2004
What a hand recount means
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:17 PM, 6 Comments
From Secretary of State Sam Reed's press conference last Wednesday (Nov. 24) regarding the prospect of a hand recount: Each time we count we're going to be moving ballots around and particularly the punch cards, in my experience, being a... [read more]
Follow-up to "Dems Wild Claims"
by Brian Crouch, 01:11 PM, 22 Comments
We have a clarification on the Democrats' claim (see the post below) that "The error for voting machines is somewhere between 1 and 2 percent". This is from the Assistant Elections Director for Voter Services:Mr. Crouch, The statement that the... [read more]
The Democrats' Wild Claims
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:38 AM, 20 Comments
The Democratic National Committee sent out this "Action Alert" begging for money to help steal the Washington gubernatorial race: I need your immediate help. You've probably heard about the extremely close race for governor here in Washington. Only 42 votes... [read more]
It's in the P-I
by Stefan Sharkansky, 08:30 AM, 11 Comments
Today on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer editorial page, Thomas Shapley has one of the best columns I've read anywhere about our vote counting mess. Seriously. "Voting a right, so do it right" Voting is a right. But it comes with the... [read more]
November 30, 2004
November Timeline
by Brian Crouch, 11:59 PM, 0 Comments
The SoundPolitics.com Timeline of Events in the Washington Governor's Race Compiled by Brian Crouch November 2004 Nov. 2: Election Day. Gregoire leads by 7,000, less than 0.6% votes -- with about 88% counted. Many combat troops ballots were... [read more]
Gubernatorial Roundup
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:49 PM, 3 Comments
Dino Rossi has now been certified by the Secretary of State as the Governor-elect. The Everett Herald has joined the chorus calling on Christine Gregoire to concede. "Gregoire should spare state a destructive fight" After a statewide recount, gubernatorial candidate... [read more]
RECOUNT$
by Seth Cooper, 12:40 PM, 2 Comments
If the Democrats were true to their concern that EVERY vote be counted, then why wouldn’t they want ALL the ballots in the state to be manually recounted? Wouldn’t their demand for a manual recount in only select counties show... [read more]
November 29, 2004
State GOP Lawsuit Withdrawn
by Seth Cooper, 02:03 PM, 6 Comments
U.S. District Judge Ricardo Martinez issued an Order of Dismissal today in the case of WA State Republican Party, et al v. Sam Reed, et al. This was the state Republican Party’s lawsuit concerning the hand-counting of optical scan ballots... [read more]
Gregoire's illegitimate recount
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:30 PM, 19 Comments
As Seth notes below, John Fund asks in today's WSJ Opinion Journal "Will Democrats steal the Washington governorship?" Well they're certainly going to try. I heard on KUOW this morning (can't find any report on line) that Gregoire will definitely... [read more]
Washington as the Florida of 2004
by Seth Cooper, 11:01 AM, 5 Comments
If you haven’t yet read today’s “John Fund on the Trial” column at OpinionJournal, you should do so now. Entitled “Florida Northwest,” Fund’s column describes our state’s gubernatorial re-count mess as “the latest example of why this country needs to... [read more]
Enhancing the vote
by Brian Crouch, 08:59 AM, 4 Comments
The Seattle Times notes that during the recount in King County, in this, the closest election in Washington state history...In many cases, election workers were trying to determine voter intent and then duplicating, or "enhancing," the ballots so they could... [read more]
Concede, Christine
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:51 AM, 2 Comments
Tim Goddard and Hamilton's Pamphlets both have thoughts on why Christine Gregoire should do everybody a favor and concede the race she has already lost twice. And scroll down to my previous post for yet another reason why Gregoire should... [read more]
November 28, 2004
It's Seattle, Stupid
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:54 PM, 2 Comments
Much of the discussion in the gubernatorial count has been about King County's exceptionally large lead for Gregoire. But Gregoire didn't win King County so much as she enjoyed a hyper-landslide in Seattle. Gregoire beat Rossi by more than... [read more]
It's in the P-I
by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:11 PM, 17 Comments
The following letter to the editor appeared in today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer Quality control has much to do with who finally wins Ask any engineer at Boeing. Dino Rossi is not the winner. It has to do with the science of... [read more]
November 27, 2004
Recount battle
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:04 PM, 38 Comments
The Rossi campaign released the following statement late yesterday in response to the Democrats' shenanigans As you know, Dino won the recount for the governor’s race on Wednesday, but Christine Gregoire is not willing to accept the results. While we’re... [read more]
November 25, 2004
Logan: Hand Recount Less Accurate
by Matt Rosenberg, 11:17 AM, 28 Comments
King County Elections Director Dean Logan appears to think poorly of a likely request by failed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Christine Gregoire to demand a hand recount. Gregoire lost by 42 votes to Republican Dino Rossi after a machine recount was... [read more]
November 24, 2004
Governor Gregoire T-Shirt
by Andy MacDonald, 09:25 PM, 19 Comments
Show your support for both Gregoire and the party officials who are stumping for her with this snappy t-shirt. (Hit tip, Instapundit)... [read more]
Rossi declares victory
by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:44 PM, 19 Comments
This statement was just released by the Rossi campaign Rossi wins 2nd count Governor-Elect ‘honored’to be chosen as state’s next governor Bellevue, WA – Governor-Elect Dino Rossi said today he is “honored” that the people of Washington have chosen him... [read more]
Even Odds
by Jim Miller, 03:26 PM, 33 Comments
That's what I would now give in Washington state's gubernatorial election — assuming there is a complete hand recount of the entire state. The margin after the first recount, 42 votes, is so small that it is easy to... [read more]
FLASH
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:25 PM, 100 Comments
Double Flash (Wednesday 2pm). Kitsap came in exactly as expected. net gain of 34 for Gregoire, confirming Rossi's 42 vote victory. It's all over. Rossi won. It's time for Gregoire to concede. -- King County reported its results at 12:30.... [read more]
November 23, 2004
A Democrat's "Tie"
by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:19 PM, 47 Comments
What do the Democrats call it when a Republican wins a vote count and is also the presumptive winner of the recount? The Democrats call it a "tie": OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Republican Dino Rossi kept his razor-thin lead in the... [read more]
Recount Follies
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:16 AM, 49 Comments
* I am continuing yesterday's table with blow-by-blow coverage of the recount reports. Scroll down, or visit this page * King County vote counters have surgically enhanced 710 previously rejected ballots after county officials divined the voter's intent. [Are they... [read more]
November 22, 2004
Recount Reports Coming in
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:43 AM, 187 Comments
EXTRA FLASH: Wednesday, 2pm. Kitsap has officially reported, confirming the key unofficial numbers. We're done. Dino wins. FLASH: Wednesday, 12:30pm. King reported. Numbers are incorporated below Whitman is now official. Not significantly different from the unofficial numbers reported earlier.... [read more]
November 21, 2004
"Serious problems in King County Elections Department"
by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:23 PM, 37 Comments
Washington State Republican Party chairman Chris Vance issued a press release earlier today alleging "four glaring examples of problems [calling] into question the way the [King County] Elections Department is run". 1. Ballots clearly marked for Dino Rossi are not... [read more]
November 20, 2004
Voting Monkey Business
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:06 AM, 14 Comments
One of the episodes in last week's vote count was the Judge Dean Lum's ruling that King County Democrats could obtain from the county a list of provisional voters with non-conforming signatures, contact these voters and submit revised registration documents... [read more]
November 19, 2004
Volusia County, Here We Come
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:40 AM, 7 Comments
The WA Secretary of State has just released, instructions to county auditors on conducting the gubernatorial recount. I've posted a copy of the document here All valid write-in votes for Governor must be individually tallied. Optical scan counties may need... [read more]
Dino Rossi: The Blue State Republican
by Seth Cooper, 11:01 AM, 23 Comments
Dino Rossi and his victory in the first ballot count for Governor of Washington State is the subject of Holman W. Jenkins, Jr.’s article “Model for Blue State GOP Success?” The short piece is out with today’s edition of OpinionJournal’s... [read more]
Already, a second recount
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:40 AM, 6 Comments
The recount in the WA governor's race hasn't even started yet and the Democrats are already committed to keep counting votes until they somehow produce enough previously undiscovered ballots to put their lady over the top: State Democratic Party Chairman... [read more]
November 18, 2004
"Little Loser Girl"
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:56 AM, 2 Comments
In light of the gubernatorial recont, today's Seattle Times has an article about a 1990 legislative race that flipped in a recount by five votes, and then flipped again in another recount by two votes. Ann Goos, who won the... [read more]
Margin of victory
by Andy MacDonald, 01:02 AM, 30 Comments
When I was in high school in Nevada, my friend's mother, Patty Cafferata, was state treasurer. In her first election, she won by a single vote. A recount reproduced the result. Her opponent sued, but the judge threw the case... [read more]
November 17, 2004
Gubernatorial Vote Count Post-Mortem
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:44 PM, 1 Comments
* Congratulations to Dino Rossi and his excellent campaign team! * It was a big day for Sound Politics too, with nearly 35,000 page views today. These came from 5,400 different IP addresses. The winner is Comcast user 67.161.117.128,... [read more]
Wednesday Vote Count
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:29 AM, 248 Comments
FLASH 6:33pm: FINAL - Rossi wins by 261! FLASH 5:44pm: Grays Harbor reported on their website. (Now added to Sec. of State site). FLASH 3:59pm: King County reported a smaller than expected lead to Gregoire. The rows in the... [read more]
November 16, 2004
Final Day of Vote Counting
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:13 PM, 15 Comments
UPDATE: This post is useful as background for understanding Wednesday's vote count, which is being tracked in the more recent post, here Wednesday is the final day of vote counting (until we start the ineluctable recount). Assuming the estimates of... [read more]
End of Day Vote Recap
by Stefan Sharkansky, 06:35 PM, 37 Comments
Rossi ended the day up 33 19(!) votes. This is net of today's reports from pro-Gregoire counties King, Thurston and Whatcom and the Grays Harbor recount. Assuming that any of the underlying data is reliable and barring any more wild... [read more]
Signatures Schmignatures
by Ambra Nykol, 01:51 PM, 49 Comments
This is getting ridiculous. The press on our gubernatorial election is embarrassing. What is this with the "finding" of more ballots? Are they stuck in O'Hare International Airport? Are they hidden in bodily orifices? Are they under someone's toupee? Please... [read more]
Tuesday Vote Count
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:22 AM, 18 Comments
I'll be updating the table below throughout the day as new returns are announced. The table columns are the same as yesterday. See this post for explanation. As I mentioned earlier, these are only estimates and projections based on... [read more]
The 10,000 Magical Mystery Ballots
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:07 AM, 11 Comments
A report from another friend who's been observing the King County vote count: At the end of the day Friday, November 12, the validation process was not complete at the 1st S facility, and the canvass board was still reviewing... [read more]
November 15, 2004
Vote Count Madness
by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:35 PM, 47 Comments
I am officially out of the gubernatorial vote count prediction business. All of our (simple) mathematical scenarios were based on the (overly charitable) assumption that the underlying data was reliable. For example, if a county reported having, say, 11,000 uncounted... [read more]
Monday's gubernatorial score card
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:01 AM, 52 Comments
I'll be updating the table below throughout the day on Monday as new reports come in. There are a few more columns than there were in Friday's table. See the bottom of the post for explanation. Scheduled ballot returns... [read more]
November 14, 2004
King County Vote Count Flash
by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:42 PM, 2 Comments
My friend the Republican vote count observer reports some very good news for Dino Rossi: We wrapped up in the MBOS [Mail Ballot Operations Satellite] facility at about 2:00 today, with the following survey numbers: Rossi 458, or 42% Gregoire... [read more]
November 13, 2004
Ballot Count Update
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:17 PM, 1 Comments
A friend who's been working as a Republican observer in the King County ballot counting operation e-mails: I have good news: based on a survey we took today of duplicated provisional ballots, (595 sample size, 348 G, 202 R, 46... [read more]
Help defend Dino
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:26 PM, 3 Comments
Now that the Washington Democrats are turning to selective lawsuits to get around Dino Rossi's lead in the vote count, the rest of us need to fight back to defend a fair electoral process. Here's what you can do. Since... [read more]
Why Rossi has won
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:41 AM, 10 Comments
Here is the weekend recap for the gubernatorial vote count -- and the definitive explanation why Dino Rossi has almost certainly won. The simple answer is that Rossi ended the day with a 1,920 vote lead and it's just not... [read more]
November 12, 2004
Gubernatorial Vote Count
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:20 AM, 21 Comments
UPDATE: See this later post for up-to-date returns as they come in on Monday, Nov. 15. -- The summary table below was updated throughout the day (Friday, Nov. 12) as new numbers were reported. See the rest of the post... [read more]
November 10, 2004
End of day gubernatorial count
by Stefan Sharkansky, 08:19 PM, 3 Comments
Rossi ended the day up by 3,492, with a projected victory margin of 4,401. There are an estimated 84,715 uncounted ballots, of which 82,874 are likely to be split between Rossi and Gregoire. 52,326 in pro-Rossi counties, 30,548 in pro-Gregoire... [read more]
Rossi adds to his lead
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:42 AM, 15 Comments
More good news for Governor Dino. 13,000 more votes have come in from Asotin, Grays Harbor, Jefferson, Walla Walla and Whatcom counties. Rossi's lead has widened to 2,960. His lead has expanded in all of these counties (except Jefferson), most... [read more]
November 09, 2004
Transition Time
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:01 PM, 5 Comments
Here's yet another indication that the Rossi and Gregoire camps have both reached the same conclusion that we have, i.e. that a Rossi victory is a much safer bet than a Gregoire victory. Dino Rossi has announced his transition team,... [read more]
Absentees Boost Rossi Gov. Bid
by Matt Rosenberg, 07:02 PM, 4 Comments
(With a big nod and tip of the hat to Stefan, Brendan, Tim, and other commenters in the item below, I offer this...just one more bloggers's take on how things seem to be swinging Dino's way, and why that's a... [read more]
Rossi is now in the lead
by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:08 PM, 10 Comments
Chelan County put Dino Rossi in the lead by 109 votes. His projected victory margin is now 2,572. UPDATE (5:10pm) with Benton County reporting, he's now ahead by 1,718. Projected victory margin is now 2,776 UPDATE (5:22pm) I accept commenter... [read more]
Still calling the governor's race for Dino Rossi
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:07 AM, 13 Comments
Stevens County just reported 2,000 votes, 68% of them for Rossi, up from the 63% that went to him from that county last week. As I wrote yesterday (and Tim Goddard got a similar result), if all of the counties... [read more]
November 08, 2004
Calling the Governor's Race for Rossi
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:41 PM, 19 Comments
Predictions are dangerous, but I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that Dino Rossi will win the governor's race. Here are some interesting pieces of information: Two counties have reported additional absentee vote counts so far today... [read more]
November 06, 2004
Gubernatorial Countdown
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:08 AM, 2 Comments
Christine Gregoire's lead in the gubernatorial race has narrowed to less than 4,000 votes as of Friday 6:30pm. There are still about 360,000 ballots remaining to be counted. Timothy Goddard ran the numbers and calculates that if the uncounted ballots... [read more]
November 05, 2004
It's in the P-I (I)
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:49 AM, 1 Comments
Today's editorial in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, "Limiting Libertarians" one of the state's three major parties -- the Republican Party -- might well have been more successful in this general election had the top-two primary been in effect. That's because it... [read more]
November 03, 2004
WA Gov Race Headed For Recount?
by Matt Rosenberg, 11:00 AM, 7 Comments
SCROLL DOWN FOR UPDATES Brace yourself for 4 p.m., when, according to Dino Rossi (R) For Governor policy and communications director Mary Lane (to whom I just spoke), King County will release the tally of 100,000 absentee or otherwise uncounted... [read more]
Dino, Dino, Dino!?
by Matt Rosenberg, 02:28 AM, 6 Comments
Mama Mia! Republican Dino Rossi is pulling ahead (for good?) in the WA Gov. race, 915,212 votes to Democrat Christine Gregoire's 914,351. 99 percent of precincts reporting. This via the Seattle Times site, with numbers from AP. Hoo baby!... [read more]
November 02, 2004
WA election eve poll
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:58 AM, 3 Comments
These are the punchlines from the Survey USA election eve poll (sorry for the all caps): DEMOCRATS IN WASHINGTON STATE HOLD THE PRESIDENCY & U.S. SENATE BUT REPUBLICANS APPEAR POISED TO WIN THE GOVERNORSHIP & ATTORNEY GENERAL CONTESTS, ACCORDING TO... [read more]
November 01, 2004
It's time for her to go
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:09 PM, 1 Comments
Just in case you haven't already made up your mind to vote for Dino Rossi for Governor, and are still contemplating a vote for Christine Gregoire, here's yet another reason to vote for Dino and to send Gregoire into exile:... [read more]
Rossi Victory Predicted
by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:57 PM, 2 Comments
U.Va. Professor and political prognosticator Larry Sabato predicts a win for Dino Rossi. Like Missouri, we have gone back and forth on this one. We are going to go against the polls, which suggest that Democrat Christine Gregoire will win.... [read more]
My Vote Choices
by Jim Miller, 02:44 PM, 6 Comments
Those who have followed the posts at my main site, Jim Miller on Politics, will know that I will vote tomorrow for George W. Bush for president and for George Nethercutt for the senate. I have said less there about... [read more]
October 28, 2004
Governor's race update
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:20 PM, 1 Comments
I've been saying that Dino Rossi is running to be the people's governor, while Chris Gregoire is running to be the government's governor. It's also fair to say that Dino Rossi is running to be the governor for Washington state,... [read more]
October 27, 2004
Christine Gregoire: The Government's Governor
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:00 AM, 2 Comments
More confirmation that Christine Gregoire is running to be the government's governor, not the people's governor. Attorney General Gregoire is siding with Sound Transit against voters and taxpayers: In court papers filed last week, the state agreed with Sound Transit... [read more]
October 26, 2004
Dino Rossi, Governor for all the people
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:00 PM, 2 Comments
The Seattle Medium, a newspaper which serves the African American community, has issued its endorsements for a variety of state and federal offices. Out of 19 partisan races, the Medium endorsed 17 Democrats and 2 Republicans -- Doug Sutherland and... [read more]
The Government's Governor or the People's Governor?
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:59 PM, 1 Comments
Sunday's Seattle Times had a number of pieces comparing gubernatorial candidates Christine Gregoire and Dino Rossi, under the lead article "Governor's race: How would they lead?". A Q&A with both candidates is here. Rossi, we learn, is unafraid to state... [read more]
October 22, 2004
Christine Gregoire's Character Problem
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:39 PM, 1 Comments
Whether Christine Gregoire wins the governor's race will be decided on November 2, but in any event, she isn't likely to win any awards for integrity or human decency. Her latest low-ball campaign stunts are to trash a whistleblowing former... [read more]
October 19, 2004
Go Dino!
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:34 PM, 2 Comments
Dino Rossi has now been endorsed by five leading Washington newspapers: The (Vancouver) Columbian (10/11/04) The Seattle Times (10/17/04) The (Spokane) Spokesman-Review (10/17/04) The (Tacoma) News Tribune (10/18/04) The (Everett) Herald (10/19/04) [Gregoire, on the other hand, has been endorsed... [read more]
My apology to the P-I
by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:55 AM, 0 Comments
Sound Politics co-conspirator Ron Hebron e-mailed the P-I's Thomas Shapley to commend him on his recent column about Christine Gregoire's bogus claim that there are tens of billions of dollars in state tax exemptions just waiting to be mined for... [read more]
October 17, 2004
On the campaign trail
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:03 PM, 0 Comments
Timothy Goddard has pictures of Dino Rossi on the campaign trail. Who knew there were so many Republicans ... in Snohomish County! motivated to go out and doorbell at 9am on a Saturday! in the rain!... [read more]
Surprises and unsurprises
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:15 AM, 0 Comments
Here's the pleasant surprise of the day: The Seattle Times has endorsed Dino Rossi for Governor! Coming from the private sector, Rossi is more likely to work harder at straightening out 20 years of administrative rules that now encumber our... [read more]
October 13, 2004
Extremes in Questions
by Ron Hebron, 11:01 PM, 2 Comments
Watching the Rossi-Gregoire debate tonight, I want to comment about the questioners. Robert Mak [corrected] from King TV, David Postman of Seattle Times, a woman from a Spokane TV station and a guy who reports for public radio in Western... [read more]
October 11, 2004
It's in the P-I
by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:14 PM, 4 Comments
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Joel Connelly writes today that "National GOP has pulled the plug on ads for Rossi" The Republican Governors' Association has planned a negative blitz against Democratic gubernatorial nominee Christine Gregoire in a bid to end the 20-year... [read more]
The One-Note Democrats
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:17 AM, 1 Comments
The Washington Democrats are scraping the bottom of the barrel to come up with scare tactics against the Republican challengers, reports the Seattle Times -- "Democrats put heat on GOP with two hot-button issues" Attacking Republicans on abortion has become... [read more]
October 08, 2004
Howling media bias on the governor's race
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:10 AM, 3 Comments
Today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer ran an anti-Rossi hit piece on its "news" page: It's a familiar Republican drumbeat: Less red tape equals more jobs. Dino Rossi has made regulatory reform the centerpiece of his campaign for governor, a platform aimed at... [read more]
October 07, 2004
Biased Reporting in the Governor's Race
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:42 PM, 1 Comments
The Tacoma News Tribune today blasts a businessman who appears in a Dino Rossi radio ad as "Man helped by state bites its hand in new Rossi ad". It might be true that small businesses are hampered by overregulation, as... [read more]
September 29, 2004
The Seattle Times front-page trashing of Dino Rossi
by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:16 PM, 5 Comments
Today's Seattle Times published an appalling front-page hit piece on Dino Rossi. The Times trashes Dino for having worked in the same firms as a man who was later convicted of investment fraud, even though the Times itself acknowledged that... [read more]
September 28, 2004
Dino Rossi's Humble Beginnings
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:29 AM, 0 Comments
Today's Seattle Times has a deeply moving account of Dino Rossi's humble beginnings. Dino grew up to become a self-made successful businessman and a leading legislator. He has a more compelling gubernatorial biography than Christine Gregoire -- a child of... [read more]
September 27, 2004
Christine Gregoire, Robo-caller
by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:15 PM, 4 Comments
After running across the house to pick up the telephone, it turns out that it was only a robo-call from "Chris Gregoire, candidate for governor". Chris told me to be sure to check my mailbox, because I'm supposed to receive... [read more]
September 21, 2004
The pro-Gregoire Seattle Times
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:27 AM, 0 Comments
Here's how the Seattle Times praised Democrat nominee Christine Gregoire to the rafters in its Sep. 15 editorial Democratic voters cleaved toward the political middle in Washington's gubernatorial race: Attorney General Christine Gregoire's sensible, moderate positions on issues explain why... [read more]
September 20, 2004
Axis of Evil
by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:15 PM, 1 Comments
The Service Employees International Union, which represents public employees around the country, has declared war on the people of Washington State by pouring $825,000 skimmed off the taxpayer-funded paychecks of out-of-state government workers into its state political action committee. Nearly... [read more]
September 17, 2004
"Republicans for Gregoire"?
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:49 AM, 11 Comments
Following a link from the Chris Gregoire campaign home page, I found a website that calls itself "Republicans and Independents for Gregoire": www.republicansforgregoire.com The suggestion that a signficant number of Republicans would be supporting Gregoire is funny enough, but it's... [read more]
September 15, 2004
Who's the right-wing extremist here?
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:12 AM, 4 Comments
The Washington Democrats, faced with the first competitive GOP gubernatorial candidate in decades, have no choice but to try to falsely smear him as a right-wing extremist: "The people of the state of Washington do not want right-wing conservatives," said... [read more]
September 08, 2004
Gregoire's Stage Fright a Liability?
by Matt Rosenberg, 01:47 PM, 8 Comments
With less than week left before the primary, Democratic contender for Washington Governor Christine Gregoire continues to sharply limit her debate appearances with party rival Ron Sims and the assured GOP nominee, Dino Rossi. Today's Seattle Times carries news Gregoire... [read more]
September 06, 2004
The Times predictable November endorsements
by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:04 PM, 4 Comments
The Seattle Times has endorsed Christine Gregoire for governor. No surprise here. Last Monday the paper papered over Gregoire's incompetent defense of her tenure as the president of a segregated sorority, even praising her for her lame claim that she... [read more]
September 05, 2004
Columbian: Dems Slime Rossi
by Matt Rosenberg, 08:28 PM, 10 Comments
In a Sunday editorial notable for its even-handed criticism of both political parties, the (WA) Vancouver Columbian takes Republicans to task for distortions in an attack ad on U.S. Rep. Brian Baird, and lays into Washington Democrats for a hit... [read more]
August 31, 2004
Caution about Election Oversight
by Ron Hebron, 11:11 PM, 0 Comments
International observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have been invited to "oversee" the US Presidential election. To show how impartial OSCE is they selected an impeached US judge (and Congressman) Alcee Hasting to lead their... [read more]
August 26, 2004
Christine Gregoire Meltdown
by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:53 PM, 7 Comments
Christine Gregoire and her campaign can't seem to do anything right. First the Seattle Times reported this week that Gregoire was the president of a college sorority that excluded blacks and Jews. Gregoire's explanation that she hoped to "change the... [read more]
August 23, 2004
Christine Gregoire Meltdown
by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:40 AM, 5 Comments
Attorney General / Democrat gubernatorial hopeful Christine Gregoire was president of a college sorority that excluded blacks and Jews, we learn in today's Seattle Times. Gregoire's response: she disagreed with the exclusionary policy, but enforced it anyway, hoping to "change... [read more]
August 19, 2004
Dangerous Dino
by Matt Rosenberg, 04:57 PM, 8 Comments
The likely Republican nominee for Governor of Washington, Dino Rossi, is actually a slick huckster whose carefully-manicured image as a likeable suburban moderate - and experienced state legislator - masks an extremist conservative soul. At least, so writes Sandeep Kaushik... [read more]
August 18, 2004
I've Been Working on the Railroad
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:11 AM, 3 Comments
Today's Seattle Times reports that Ron Sims' gubernatorial campaign will tout his leadership of Sound Transit "I'm going to do the same thing with the state of Washington," Sims vows. One can only wonder what that might entail. Here are... [read more]
August 17, 2004
What Innumerate Media?
by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:37 PM, 0 Comments
Gubernatorial candidate Ron Sims is now running a TV ad touting his tax increase package, which he claims will "cut taxes for 78% of Washington's families". Elizabeth M. Gillespie of the Associated Press is correct to call Sims on the... [read more]
August 11, 2004
Performance Audits
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:24 AM, 6 Comments
The Evergreen Freedom Foundation released the list of the state's gubernatorial and legislative candidates who signed (or not) the Performance Audit Pledge (calling for all state agencies to have their performance audited by the state's elected auditor). The list of... [read more]
August 05, 2004
Ron Sims Wants to Tax Your Ass Off
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:02 PM, 5 Comments
King County Executive / Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ron Sims has announced his new tax plan: As the Seattle Times priceless headline puts it: "Sims pitches four-pronged revamp of tax system". One can even imagine the pain of those prongs ripping... [read more]
August 04, 2004
Supporting Gregoire, Weakly
by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:48 PM, 1 Comments
The Seattle Weekly is helping Christine Gregoire launch a negative campaign against Dino Rossi Gregoire is racing to define Rossi as a candidate so conservative that he is far to the right of the vast majority of Washington’s voters. Gregoire... [read more]
Christine Gregoire, Sound Transit and I-776
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:50 PM, 3 Comments
In 2002, Washington voters approved I-776, which rolled back vehicle registration fees to $30 and repealed local Motor Vehicle Excise Taxes (MVETs). After months of lawsuits, the constitutionality of I-776 has been upheld and the state is finally issuing refunds... [read more]