[From the diaries by susanhu. N in Seattle is an expert on election politics in Wash. state and, through his sterling diaries, led us through the gubernatorial recounts last year, another sorry example of the state GOP party. THis new stunt — voter intimidation — is outrageous!]
[cross-posted and adapted from my DailyKos diary…]
Washington state runs very clean elections. Our electoral law was stretched to the limit in last year’s razor-thin gubernatorial election and its aftermath in the courts, but still held fast. Try as they might to manufacture a lawsuit on innuendo, propaganda, pseudo-science, and outright falsehoods, the state GOP went down in flames in the face of facts and laws.
Now, less than a week before a very important county-level election, the King County Republicans are at it again.
details below the fold…
For the full story, I urge you to read these posts on local Washington state progressive blogs Washblog, HorsesAss.org, and the blog of the Northwest Progressive Institute.
In short, at this late date a King County Republican operative challenged the registration addresses of nearly 2000 voters, all in extremely Demoratic areas of the county. Claiming that she has “personal knowledge or belief” that those voters did not live at their registered addresses, Lori D. Sotelo, (Senior Vice Chair of the King County GOP and chair of their so-called Voter Registration Integrity Project) is trying to harrass voters by forcing them to prove that they live where they live. A hearing couldn’t be scheduled prior to the election, and would be a tremendous inconvenience in any case, so the GOP’s real intention is to discourage those people from voting at all.
Among those being hassled are people who have lived in the same house for decades, as well as every single resident of an 80-year-old apartment building.
Incumbent County Executive Ron Sims is in a tough battle against a Republican who (among other things, as I diaried on DailyKos a couple of weeks ago) embroiders his meager resume, has anger control problems, and supports unbridled sprawl in the county. Every vote matters.
In addition to the Washington progressive blog community, this story has been picked up by Dan Savage in local weekly The Stranger, and it should hit the local MSM as well.
In addition to the “dirty tricks” aspect, the fact that Sotelo has already backed down on some of the challenges should encourage her victims to go to court. After all, the challenges she filed include the phrase “under penalty of perjury”. And we know how much Republicans enjoy perjury…
Bastards. I hope this blows up in their faces.
Sent this on to the Port Angeles Dean list (we still have 123 members).
Thanks, Susan.
BTW, what’s the story with the big-bucks anti-Prop.1 campaign in Clallam County? What a surprise that the Realtors want to throw their weight around…
I tell you, I’m so mad at the real estate businesses that I could firebomb one of their buildings (!).
It is ugly. They’ve spent three-plus times as much. And their ads are complete lies. It won’t hurt any property owner. And anyone with a brain would realize that a .5% excise tax on a purchase won’t deter people from buying property.
Have you driven around the countryside outside Sequim in a while?
It is shocking. We’ve lived here since 2000 and thel andscape has changed dramatically. There are all these McMansions and ticky-tacky houses-all-in-a-row sprouting up all over. There are huge box stores now….
One of my other anarchist wishes is to put up a sign in front of the new housing McMansion areas: “WARNING: ARCHITECTURE MONSTROSITIES AHEAD!”
Well, they are. They’re so damn ugly and an affront to the landscape and to the soul.
Were any reforms made to your electoral laws after the last debacle?
Just a couple – the major one being an ID requirement. You now have to show some form of ID when you vote; this can be your voter ID card, license, or even a piece of mail from a utility. Not the most onerous thing in the world, but with these guys, it’s anything to make it harder to vote. They really, really, really hate voters.
Switz, we vote all absentee here, and have since 2002.
I’m reading stories in the local paper that as many as 2,000 ballots have been held beause of problems … people’s signatures didn’t match, etc. Hoping it gets ironed out.
We have never had problems here before… i’ve asked all the old-timers and no one recalls having any issues with the county.
I can’t believe the hoops you have to jump through in the US. These residency challenges are ridiculous.
The only “debacle” in the 2004 gubernatorial election was the reprehensible anti-government, anti-electoral process propaganda campaign operated by the WSRP.
The preternatural closeness of the vote counts magnified all the little mishaps that always occur, but are ordinarily below the radar, in any election (in any human activity, really). But in terms of the counts, recounts, and even election challenges, the state legal code (RCW) covered just about every eventuality and directed the entire process in an orderly manner.
Unfortunately, the GOP did a whole lot better of poisoning public perception than they did in the actual recount and challenge processes. They’re still at it.
They’re absolutely relentless. I’ve never seen such sore losers.
They really poison the well too … GOP people i know still think that the Democrats cheated to win.
But, our governor, CHristine Gregoire, has been marvelous. She’s been a leader, a risk-taker, out front on every emergency and public issue. I never knew she’d be that good.
(She gets lots of good press in the local paper, as do Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell … those three women know what to do.)