GOP voter challenges backfire
From this morning's Seattle Times:
Society has never been very fond of vigilantes. That's essentially what the King County GOP has become - a bunch of vigilantes trying to purge the rolls of invalid voters. Of course, the problem is that the King County GOP is careless, clueless, and clumsy. They didn't do their homework before filing these challenges.
What's more, they can't be trusted. The last thing we need is partisans trying to clean out the voter rolls.
The Republicans will argue that they're just trying to do good. If that's the case, why did they file all these challenges (many of which had no merit) right on the eve of the election? The challenges were timed perfectly; voters got their challenge letters just several days in advance of General Election Day.
Raymond Doyle isn't the only one who is angry:
ChairmanVance claims "we will learn from this" and avoid making future mistakes. We don't want him to do any learning. The Republicans should stop trying to purge the voter rolls. Here is our warning: get out of the vigilante business, or there will be consequences.
We will not stand by idly while you attack our democracy and try to cheat law abiding citizens out of their constitutional right to vote.
More Republican mistakes are surfacing as King County elections officials prepare to decide whether to count ballots cast in last week's election by voters challenged by the GOP.The Republicans' last minute purge attempt has completely backfired. Not only did it make no difference in the election, but it angered many voters who would otherwise harbor no animosity towards the GOP.
Most of the challenges appear to be valid. But some who have been challenged in error are howling.
On Monday the elections office announced the Canvassing Board would hold hearings Thursday on the first 48 challenges. Twelve of the 48 were withdrawn later that day by Lori Sotelo, the senior county Republican vice chairman. That's on top of 140 she withdrew days before the election and 76 duplicate names the elections office says it has discovered on the GOP's list.
A Seattle Times review has found more errors among the challenges, including:The challenge to Raymond Doyle's registration was one of the 12 the GOP withdrew Monday, but he's still angry. "I want that woman in jail — I'm that upset about it," Doyle said of Sotelo, who signed each challenge.
- Voters caught in the same kind of address mix-up that ensnared Weber and Christoffersen.
- Voters who live in apartments or houses on the premises of the storage complexes they manage.
- Voters who are registered at their home addresses, but have their ballots and other elections-office mail sent to private mailboxes.
Doyle lives and is registered to vote at the Kent storage complex he manages. While he usually isn't a party-line voter, he said, he voted against all Republican candidates Nov. 8.
Society has never been very fond of vigilantes. That's essentially what the King County GOP has become - a bunch of vigilantes trying to purge the rolls of invalid voters. Of course, the problem is that the King County GOP is careless, clueless, and clumsy. They didn't do their homework before filing these challenges.
What's more, they can't be trusted. The last thing we need is partisans trying to clean out the voter rolls.
The Republicans will argue that they're just trying to do good. If that's the case, why did they file all these challenges (many of which had no merit) right on the eve of the election? The challenges were timed perfectly; voters got their challenge letters just several days in advance of General Election Day.
Raymond Doyle isn't the only one who is angry:
In each letter, Logan also included a copy of the challenge itself, in which Sotelo attested "under penalty of perjury" that she had "personal knowledge" that the voter didn't reside at the address at which he or she is registered.They certainly aren't. But here is an example of that carelessness and clumsiness I was just talking about:
In numerous instances, she was wrong.
The GOP challenged the registration of Dennis Meyer, whose North Seattle home has the same house and street numbers as a storage complex in Burien. Meyer said Tuesday that it took him 30 minutes to vote at his polling place last week because of the confusion.
"It's been a darn imposition," he said. "They're [Republicans] not making any friends."
Republicans also challenged the registrations of Harvey and Nancy Hart, who live at the Federal Way storage complex they manage. Harvey Hart said that when he received Logan's letter informing him of the challenge, his first reaction was, "Why vote anymore?"If the GOP had investigated, they might have found this out. But they did not. They are a group of amateurs who also happen to be partisans. And their intentions are clearly suspect.
He said he called the offices of the governor and secretary of state to express his displeasure. Almost all the storage complexes in King County have resident managers, he said.
ChairmanVance claims "we will learn from this" and avoid making future mistakes. We don't want him to do any learning. The Republicans should stop trying to purge the voter rolls. Here is our warning: get out of the vigilante business, or there will be consequences.
We will not stand by idly while you attack our democracy and try to cheat law abiding citizens out of their constitutional right to vote.
