[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…