Sunday, November 06, 2005

KING COUNTY GOP: PROVING IT CAN'T BE DONE

We said the job couldn't be done,

But with a smile they went right to it!

They took on the job that couldn't be done,

And they couldn't do it...

The ditty, a personal favorite, goes through my mind as I read David Goldstien's ongoing account at http://www.horsesass.org/ of the withdrawal of about 150 - numbers reported vary - of the 1900+ voter registration challenges filed by the King County Republican Party.

That's almost an 8% boner rate... You guys need to lay off the stupid pills...

But over at The Stranger, Dan Savage smells blood. The accusation has been published via The Slog that at least some of these challenges were known to be meritless at the time of filing.

http://www.thestranger.com/blog/archives/2005/10/30-05.php#a002193

There are calls to indict on charges of perjury Lori Sotelo, the unfortunate person whose name is on the affidavits challenging the registrations.

Since the prosecutor's office hasn't acted, it isn't known at this time whether that would be real perjury or Texas-style Kate Hutchinson technical perjury...

Take a time out... And wipe your chins... Do you boys really think somebody would try something illegal and provably so in a situation this closely watched?

Goldy at Horsesass sees the same thing here I do: "As the GOP’s incredible fuckup has just illustrated, the process of cleaning the voter rolls has never been as simple as the Republicans have tried to make it out..."

But unfortunately he then follows Savage Dan off the conspiracy cliff...

Everyone, nose in the corner and stay there. This system will never meet the standards of people who want irrefutable results for two million vote elections that are decided by less than two hundred votes.

It can't be done.

Comments:
Quoting the Shark:

"It was a bonheaded error that these registrations were challenged."

That's my point. Would Stephan allow Dean Logan to stand up on his hind paws and plead bonehead error?

Would he let Logan slide if Logan pointed out the error wouldn't prevent anyone from voting anyway?

We both know the Shark well enough to answer that: Hell no!

To err is human. To ignore this reality is foolish.

It can't be done...
 
The difference between Logan and the King County GOP is that it was Logan's job to make sure the voter rolls are accurate and valid. What could be dismissed as a bonehead error from a group of private citizens amounts to neglect of duty in a government official.

In any case, the biggest story here isn't that 150 people were erroneously challenged, it's that there are nearly two thousand people registered to vote at invalid addresses.
 
The registrations were CHALLENGED!!! What does CHALLENGE mean? It means that their VALIDITY was questioned, and then they were allowed to RESPOND.
NO ONE IS BEING DISENFRANCHISED, as THEY HAVE THE RIGHT (and responsibility) to RESPOND.

On the other hand, the thousands of votes that were illegally cast
most certainly DISENFRANCHISED the voters that cast LEGAL ballots.
 
Post a Comment



<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?