Cheating suspected in vote

Washington Times ^ | 12/16/04 | Ralph Z. Hallow

[kattracks]

Republicans in Washington state suspect Democrats, with 500 patronage jobs at risk, are cheating in what is now the unprecedented third counting of the 2,883,341 ballots cast in the Nov. 2 election for governor.
    In the current hand recount, Democrats keep discovering untabulated ballots. The state's Republicans, who thought they had elected Dino Rossi as the first Republican governor in 20 years, are furious.
    State Republican Party Chairman Chris Vance says he can't decide whether Democrat officials in heavily Democratic King County — where uncounted or improperly discarded ballots keep popping up — are "colossally incompetent or completely corrupt."

 "This is the third time King County has added numbers to the pool," says Rossi spokeswoman Mary Lane. She said that two days before officials were to certify the election, King County announced it had 10,000 more ballots than it had originally thought.

    During a machine recount, King County announced it had found more than 1,000 additional ballots. Then, on the morning that the state Supreme Court was due to hear oral arguments in a lawsuit over the disputed election, King County said it discovered 561 ballots that had been improperly thrown out. Officials in the Democrat-dominated county later turned up two more batches of ballots in the bottom of boxes.
    "It's a troubling pattern," Miss Lane says.

    The King County Canvassing Board yesterday voted 2-1 to begin the process of verifying the ballots.

    Republicans in the state say they see a parallel to the 2000 Florida presidential election recount, when most of the disputed ballots were in heavily Democratic counties overseen by Democratic election officials.

[nj26]

And if 561 isn't enough, they'll find more "votes" in some closet or desk drawer.

[Arkinsaw]

And if 561 isn't enough, they'll find more "votes" in some closet or desk drawer.

Count on it. Then, in the next election, we'll see if Washingtonians are really that dumb to take it laying down.

[this_ol_patriot]

Oh gee, look at this pile of votes I just stepped in!

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Going national ping.

[hunter112]

They're going to have to. Whatcom County came in with its manual recount, and even though this hippie university county went for Gregoire, six net votes were added to Dino Rossi's total!

I can't wait for the Pierce and Snohomish County totals. They almost always vote Rat. Practically everywhere Dino Rossi led, he has added net votes in the manual recount. With the size of the numbers in Pierce and Snohomish, he's bound to add at least a dozen apiece. The fraudmeisters in King have got to be having some sleepless nights.

[Steely Tom]

Why no "oopsies" in the Republican precincts?

Wouldn't Republicans be more likely to "misplace" ballots cast for Democrat candidates?

Why can't Democrat-appointed officials in Democrat-controlled precincts accurately keep track of every Democrat ballot on election day, so those ballots can be certified as Democrat votes and tabulated into final vote counts on election night?

I'm puzzled, confused, mystified.

I'm puzzled because I thought they were the party of the smart people.

(steely)

[ApplegateRanch]

Did the Seattle/King County elections people train in Albuquerque & Dona Anna Counties in New Mexico?

Maybe the County Clerk better check the trunk of her car one more time; she may have forgotten she has a couple more (stuffed) unopened ballot boxes in there.

[poindexter]

This whole thing is win/win/win for us Repubs here in Washington. If Dino wins, we win. If Dino loses, Gregoire takes office with a huge stinky cloud around her and spends four years without credibility...another win, of sorts. Finally, if Dino loses, he comes back in two years and clobbers Maria Cantwell for US Senate!

[lil varmint]

The Washington State Democratic Chairman cries, literally, in pubic and the Repubs are whiners? King County has "found" just enough ballots to possibly eke out a victory, and we are whiners? This from the county who, oops, forgot to send out the military ballots on time, and we are whiners? They want to count "found: ballots that were accidentally overlooked or misplaced as long as they are not the late-mailed military ballots? Puhleez! For anyone of us Washingtonians who care, this is an electoral nightmare.

[Robert357]

Vance says he can't decide whether Democrat officials in heavily Democratic King County — where uncounted or improperly discarded ballots keep popping up — are "colossally incompetent or completely corrupt."

Hmmmmmm......"collossaly incompetent or completely corrupt?" Hmmmmmm....ALL OF THE ABOVE!

[Swampmarine]

Are you saying there are returned military absentee ballots, in hand, that they won't count because they were received late as a result of being sent out late? I hope you're saying that because someone must have some sort of legal claim as a result.

[sarah_f]

The truth is the corrupt state attorney general and the DNC and the King County elections officials are as dirty as sin.

They have now 'found' 'mystery' ballots SEVEN TIMES since Rossi was elected.

These are the worst communist cheaters around. They are SCUM and I hope a book is written about this. They can call it "Christine Gregoire, corrupt attorney general and her 'rat minions steal an election through vote manufacturing."

[taxesareforever]

Are you saying there are returned military absentee ballots, in hand, that they won't count because they were received late as a result of being sent out late?

That's a fact! Democrats want every vote counted as long as it has Gregoire's name circled AND isn't a military ballot.

A caller on talk radio in Seattle today, who said that he is one of the Democratic counters in King County, stated that people cannot fault the way the counting is taking place because it makes up for Florida 2000 and Ohio this year.
Please don't anyone raise the question of whether corruption is involved. It really is quite obvious.

[timydnuc]

The election in Washington has been decided by the socialist/Marxist/communist/fascists. Votes can be made, counting is unnecessary. The rule of one party will rule the state. If you don't like that....you will be shot. Good bye democracy in Washington. You people that don't like it, move or go to a reeducation camp, or you will be shot.

[torqemada]

Haven't heard of anyone pressing the issue. The King County Records & Elections folks basically said, "Gee, we're real sorry that those ballots went late & you were disenfranchised. We're trying to figure out what happened & fix the problem, but there's nothing we can do about you not getting your right to vote in this election."

From what I heard, the Court told these weasels that this is supposed to be a RECOUNT of previously counted ballots...NOT A RECANVASS. Thus, they were told, you cannot bring in ballots that were not in the original machine or hand counts. Sounds to me like the Court would have to reverse itself to allow these new "found" ballots, as well as 571 absentees that were originally set aside & not counted because the signatures could not be validated. Of course, that's not hard to imagine. King County could show Kerry a thing or two about flip-flopping.

Does anyone else see the irony here? Christine Gregoire was our Attorney General. Apparently, she has no problem standing by & witnessing overt fraud...so long as it works to her favor. Just another whore lawyer.

[Rockingham]

Misplaced ballots are a common occurrence. From Florida 2000 and other disputed elections, I surmise that at least some of these ballots were slipped in by elections office employees so that they can be "discovered" and counted as if they were in the office all the time. Most of those ballots are probably otherwise valid but ought not to be counted because they were not turned in on time, while some ballots are cooked up by elections office employees.

The fundamental problem is that ballots are not treated with a level of security and accountability equivalent to say, the flow of dollar bills at the cash registers in Wal-Mart or in a bank. In addition, there is poor transparency and accountability in most elections offices. When an election is so close that a major office is on the line, the temptation to cheat is extraordinary and the normal level of security grossly inadequate.

Washington Republicans need to get angry and start "name and shame" efforts that slam local election officials and compliant judges as compromised and corrupt. A couple of dozen provocative roads signs on major thoroughfares, renewed and added to daily would have an impact. Well done "Burma Shave" style signs are especially effective because they can draw a lot of attention and allow extended messages.

[California Patriot]

Yes, exactly. Stodgy comments to the media don't do the job. We have to get very creative, and very aggressive, NOW.

[gop_gene]

Finally, if Dino loses, he comes back in two years and clobbers Maria Cantwell for US Senate!

I don't know about that, unfortunately. 2 years is a long time in politics and a lot of people have short memories, so this whole unpleasant episode may become a distant memory for a good portion of the population. Also, too, while some of these left-leaning/liberal may be willing to vote for a republican, whether it's a rino or a true conservative, for strictly state office, they almost never will vote for one for statewide federal office (i.e., senator).

[California Patriot]

Exactly. So many FReepers on these threads are indulging in baseless speculation. Thanks for this moment of mature perspective.