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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]
A sense of proportion
by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:41 AM, 56 Comments
As I'm trying to predict how Judge Bridges might rule on Monday morning, I'm going to make a call that is contrary to the MSM. He will either use the proportional analysis as proposed by the Republicans or punt on... [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]
Statistical "self-gratification"
by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:30 PM, 97 Comments
Prof. Handcock returns to the stand. He keeps coming back to the same idiotic argument that because we don't know who all of the unknown illegal voters are, we can't adjust scientifically for all of the known illegal voters. He's... [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]
Afternoon Recess
by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:03 PM, 60 Comments
Afternoon recess from 3 - 3:15 at which point Mark Braden will cross-examine the Democrats' absent-minded professor whose been fiddling around with irrelevant statistics. At 3:15 I go on the John Carlson Show, KVI 570. David Goldstein will be on... [read more]
Adolph, Fiddler
by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:53 PM, 70 Comments
The Democrat's expert witness, Professor Christopher Adolph is back on the stand. Caution, off-color humor at the bottom of the extended entry--... [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]
It's the eponymy, stupid
by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:52 PM, 20 Comments
I promised not to make fun of the last name of the Democrats' statistical expert witness, Prof. Mark Handcock, but one of his research papers is titled "Statistical Evidence Tells Tails of Human Sexual Contacts"... [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]
Democrats' Expert Witness
by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:25 AM, 140 Comments
The Democrats' expert witness, UW Assistant Professor Christopher Adolph is testifying Brings up thoroughly ridiculous red herring arguments, based on the assumption that he's trying to answer hypothetical scientiifc question "did all of the illegal votes affect the outcome of... [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]