Yesterday The Washington State House Government, Operations, and Accountability Committee passed five different bills that will among other things, "enhance voter registration record keeping" and "standardize election procedures" throughout the state. However the committee refused to address the main problem with this state's election process when it struck down a Republican amendment that would require all voters to show photo identification when voting at a polling booth. Washington State has one of the loosest elections systems in the country, which leaves us dreadfully vulnerable to widespread voter fraud and tainted elections, as last years gubernatorial race debacle pointed out.
In that election voter fraud was rampant, with more votes cast than actual voters in heavily Democratic King County. Not only that, it has been proven that there were numerous instances of not only felons voting, but dead people as well. This alone cries for us in Washington to tighten up our election process, yet Democrats in the state house proved themselves willing to accept the status quo by refusing to compel those who show up to vote to actually prove they are who they claim to be.
Not only do we need to require photo ID of voters, but we must in some way limit the amount of votes cast by absentee ballots, especially here in Washington, where a majority of votes are cast this way. With the way our system is configured now, it doesn't take much effort for someone to cast a single or multiple fraudulent votes. The fact that Democrats refuse to take any of these measures, not only in Washington State but throughout the nation, sheds light on the fact that all their concern and protest over voter disenfranchisement and fraudulent elections are simply crocodile tears.
A tainted election here in the Evergreen State and substantial voter fraud in Milwaukee, Wisconsin make it clear that our elected representatives need to step up and reform this country's election systems so that every American can rest assured that each election is carried out with the utmost integrity.
As in Florida in 2000 there were three vote counts, the difference here in Washington being that the Democrat actually got the vote overturned. Republicans object to the fact that Gregoire was awarded office only after winning the third and less accurate count, for the Democratic head of elections in King County admitted that manual recounts are far less accurate than machine counts. Furthermore, the courts allowed the rules to be changed in regards to how you can count ballots in King County while counting was taking place, which is changing the rules in the middle of the game. Votes in King County were counted differently as well, whiie no such privilige was given to any other county in the state, which violates the equal protection clause in the 14th amendment.
ReplyDeleteAs Republicans objected to counting ballots differently in Democratic Counties in Florida in 2000, they also have objected when the same thing happened here.
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ReplyDeleteYou addressed voting irregularities everywhere except in Ohio, where some folks waited 10 hours in line to vote. I know you may not have voted yet, but 10 hours is a bit long to wait. It's like 9.5 hours to long. Not that I wouldn't wait 10 hours to vote, no one should have to.
The point is, you've got your gripes in Washington, just as others have their gripes across the country. Now is the time to pass federal voting standards so we as a nation aren't subject to the voting irregularities of a single state or county. I'm sure you're with me on federally mandated standards for:
1. Number of available voting machines based on population density
2. No registration on the day of voting
3. Independent, non-partisan elections staff (no more Kenneth Blackwells).
4. Standards for recounts that leave no room for legal challenges to change the rules as a recount is going on.
So, the question is: can you get your party to sign off on it? They're in control...Put a good bill together that deals with these issues and sign it right through...
I have a feeling its not going to happen.
And by the way...I'm not so sure about a machine recount being more accurate. In Ohio, the recount consisted of randomly selecting 3% of precincts in the state and recounting only those precincts. If the numbers were not statistically different from the state totals, they were done. The randomly chosen precincts were notified 3 weeks ahead of time and a surprise visit from the company that made the machines in one county prompted a call for a federal investigation into potential vote tampering. Bottom line, I'd rather have humans counting every single vote in the state than tweaked vote counting machines recounting just 3%.
Waiting in line for 9 or 10 hours is no doubt too long, but that is in comparable to the actual voter fraud that has occurred here in Washington. I'm not talking about procedures to expedite the voting process, I'm talking about insuring that all votes cast in an election are actually legal. If I had to choose, I'd rather wait 9 hours in line than have an election system where committing fraud is as easy as snapping your fingers.
ReplyDeleteNo disagreements on setting up standards consistent throughout the nation. The question becomes will your party not obstruct such a measure, a measure that should also require photo ID for all voters.
The problem with machine counts vs. manual counts is that whenever you have a manual count you introduce human error into the equation. You said you desired independent, non-partisan elections staff, yet having manual counts opens the door for the prejudices and ideologies of those doing the counting. In heavily Democratic King County a vote for "Christine Rossi" was counted as a vote for the Democrat Christine Gregoire, and I'm sure there are similar incidents throughout the nation, by Republican and Democrat alike. Machine counts apply a uniform standard to each and every ballot, free from human error and ideology.