Washblog

The contest for Elections Director is not actually non-partisan at all.  Though four of the candidates have never run for any public office as partisan candidates, two have run for public office as Republicans.  You might recall the Lori Sotelo attempt at voter disenfranchisement in 2005, featuring perjury and illegal modification of voter registration challenge forms.  Irons and Roach are running to make this the official policy of the King County Elections Department.

If either were to win, we can look forward to officially recognized attempts to make low wage voters give up a day's pay to defend their franchise.  Signature matching programs will be modified to throw out as many ballots as possible, and it is likely that the policy of three attempts at voter contact in the event of mismatches will be eliminated on the grounds of expense.  There is ample precedent for this--Florida Republicans threw voters off the rolls if there was an 80% match between their names and a list of felons.  Not good news at all for people named Jones or Smith in non-affluent zip codes.

The current Republican leadership committed to the notion that voting is not actually a citizenship right and duty, but a carnival kewpie doll prize that you can only win by getting past all the barriers they put in your way.  Honest Republicans who disagree, for instance our own David McKay who refused to pursue bogus cases of "voter fraud," were summarily fired as US attorneys.

As Paul Weyrich famously said, "Now many of our Christians have what I call the goo-goo syndrome -- good government. They want everybody to vote. I don't want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of people, they never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GBAsFwPglw
http://horsesass.org/?p=1167

by eridani on Mon Feb 02, 2009 at 02:30:50 AM PST

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I am continually bemused by the attempts to make the election of the Elections Director partisan.  We should look at who has the right professional credentials, a background in tech combined with management skills, and put that person in charge.  A cold hard look at the resumes shows that Irons - not Huff, not Anderson, and most definitely not Osborn, Kempt or Roach - meets that bill.  I don't ask my surgeon his political leanings, I just want the best.  Same here - and that isn't Huff who ended up counting the presidential ballots for King County even slower than the ENTIRE state of Louisiana.  Why?  Because she knows so little about tech she checked the computers the day before the election...and then shut them off.  Shut them off!  Incredible for anybody with any clue about technology.  Yep, Irons has my vote - regardless of his party affiliation.  He was fair on the council although I didn't agree with all his positions.  I just want efficiency and an election's department that works - and that means Irons.

by King Voter on Tue Feb 03, 2009 at 10:36:56 AM PST

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... who wants to make it so that it's out of the voter's hands and into (who is "they" anyway?)'s hands?

What we're talking about here is postmarking of "mail in" ballots which are mailed in.

Putting the onus on voters to mail ballots on a date certain timeline is one thing.. but it's still under the voters' control.

Asking voters to assume the burden of force majeure is another... and one which in spite of her dyed hair I have never even seen her venture to edubicate the proletariate concerning on.

Mary Lou at a toga party? I think not.... but maybe, maybe she's looking to work up to being a Grove crasher or something.

Irrelevant legislation, lots of friends... I don't know. Really, I don't know.

by m3047 on Sun Feb 08, 2009 at 02:43:15 AM PST

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