If voter fraud is as rampant in Washington state as Republicans like to say it is, then Secretary of State Sam Reed might want to rethink his enforcement priorities.
From: Ammons, Dave
Subject: `Voting service’
To: blatherwatch-mail@yahoo.com
Cc: “Blinn, Katie”, “Handy, Nick”, “Zylstra, Brian”
Date: Monday, October 25, 2010, 11:06 AMPlease take down your blog post on Voting Service. I assume this is satire, but our Elections Division reminds that you could be charged with a crime:
This is illegal:
RCW 29A.84.610 Deceptive, incorrect vote recording.
A person is guilty of a gross misdemeanor who knowingly:
(1) Deceives any voter in recording his or her vote by providing incorrect or misleading recording information or by providing faulty election equipment or records; or
(2) Records the vote of any voter in a manner other than as designated by the voter.
Such a gross misdemeanor is punishable to the same extent as a gross misdemeanor that is punishable under RCW 9A.20.021.We are pretty sensitive about talk of ballot selling, etc. And of course the ballot would never be counted, because the signature would not match the one on file for the voter. But attempted vote fraud can be penalized by a prison sentence and a big fine.
If you have any questions, please contact Katie Blinn, assistant director of elections and an attorney, 360-902-4168.
David Ammons
Communications Director
Office of Secretary of State
Um… really Dave? The most pressing threat of voter fraud in Washington state is a satirical blog post lampooning Republicans’ hyperbolic claims of voter fraud in Washington state? For this you send an email threatening legal action?
I don’t doubt Ammons when he writes that his office is “pretty sensitive about talk of ballot selling, etc.,” but he should remember that most if not all of this talk has come in the form of bogus charges from Republicans… charges that can only stem from either a genuine (if loony) belief in massive, endemic, Democratic voter fraud, or from the fact that the accusers are a bunch of cynical, democracy-hating liars. So if Ammons and Reed really believe that intimidating bloggers is the best means of protecting the integrity of our elections system, rather than harassing BlatherWatch, perhaps they should focus their lawyers’ attentions on the vicious, hate-spewing, voter-fraud-conspiracy-spinning, paranoid propagandists at Sound Politics and Orbusmax?
(And again… really Dave? You’re gonna take your cues from a sociopathic, delusional, wingnut who calls himself “The Orb”…? … A proto-fascist, shooting-spree-waiting-to-happen, who Michael aptly describes as “a rightie blogger whose political agenda requires he not get the joke,” and who ironically considers me “frightening,” “treasonous” and “a danger”…? Really?)
The truth is, elections in Washington state are extraordinarily clean, resulting in only a handful of voter fraud prosecutions, even in the wake of the hotly disputed 2004 gubernatorial election contest. In fact I asked Ammons for an actual count of recent voter fraud cases, and he responded, “None that I’m aware of…”
We do want to be hypervigilant about potential fraud. There is a lot of misinformation out there – urban myths, if you will – that keep roiling in some quarters, including some media outlets. It’s something our Elections folks take seriously, to the point about not joking about it. Too many people don’t get the humor and think it’s really possible to do such shenanigans, or worse.
No doubt. But I’m not convinced that pandering to the baseless fears of humorless conspiracy theorists is the best communications strategy.
Indeed, as a sometimes-satirist myself, I’d argue that the best remedy against the slanderous ravings of the likes of Stefan Sharkansky and Jim “The Orb” Walker, is to heap even further ridicule upon them. And in that noble public service, BlatherWatch deserves an official thank you from the Secretary of State for a job well done.
Goldy to Ballot–
I was just going to post the same story.
DIRTY HARRY Reid!!
The Democrats will stoop to lower lows as power slips thru there fingers like hot, steaming shit!
Pathetic.
loose lips sink ships
tapped phones drop drones
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/.....er-caging/
@1-2-3…
Fuck you assholes.
LOL… I can’t wait for this one to hit the courts. Satire is illegal?
@4
#3 is a left-wing asshole.
re 1: Thank God. The software is working correctly.
I guess I can understand sending a note, but the tone of it seems unnecessarily harsh. I would imagine that the audience is less Blathering Michael than the meat-cleaver wielding crowd.
How can a government office assert/defend its integrity to folks who hate the government and whose whole mode of communication revolves around reading between the lines, even when there is nothing there?
As I recall, a rabid rightwinger who threatened to kill Governor Gregoire was acquitted on free speech grounds, so it’s hard for me to see how anyone could be prosecuted for writing a satirical piece on voter fraud. And Ammons, a former journalist, ought to know better than to write this nonsense.
@2 Even if this story is true, which it almost certainly is not — it reads suspiciously like boilerplate that came from a template on a computer in the GOP Noise Shop — at the very most it makes Democrats (or someone sympathetic to them) guilty of doing what Republicans did in Snohomish County in 2004, where hundreds of voters in dozens of precincts complained the Diebold touch-screen voting machines would not allow them to cast a vote for John Kerry. I say what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
Addendum to #10: Fuck you, Cynical.
@1
Sounds to me like old folks who don’t understand how technology works (remember the butterfly ballot in Florida and the righties claiming that senile people shouldn’t be allowed to vote?). From the story is sounds like these machines have capacitive touch screens which can register touches even if the user is hovering their finger a quarter inch above the screen. Most likely they reached across the screen to press the next page button and inadvertently triggered a different selection when pulling their hand back. Occam’s Razor strikes again! There is no vote “cast” until the user presses done, and they have multiple chances to verify their vote.
Nice try, but the Republicans have been crying wolf over voter fraud for years, only to find they are the biggest perpetrators.
It is not a Washington problem, it is Kink County!
Well, Verne, let’s go to the tape: A person is guilty of a gross misdemeanor who knowingly Records the vote of any voter in a manner other than as designated by the voter. RCW 29A.84.610(2)(emphasis added).
So if I “designate” Mike to cast my vote according to his whim by sending him my signed ballot, everything is fine. Right?
Oh, I would never trust Mike to cast any vote of mine. His many years as Ellen Craswell’s sex toy have permanently damaged his synapses.
Well, Brenda, Chuck @13 did mention “Kink” County…
It’s about time to write off Sam Reed if he’s flouncing around playing Mister Squeaky Clean while his underlings are sending out crap like this.
Gee, the original (satirical) post only suggest that people sign their ballots and send them to him to make the choices and mail it on their behalf.
I’m not sure that’s illegal. They’ve willingly delegated the task to someone else.
Is it that much different than reading the Seattle Times editorial endorsements before deciding how to vote? I’m sure the Blethens would be happy to fill out the ballots for you and drop them in the mail, if they thought they could get away with that. They’ve already tried to get us to skip right on through the process of informing ourselves and choosing the candidate for outselves.
The other part of the story is the hairless twit from Everett who sounded the ALARM at this piece of satire and contacted the SOS. His hyperbolic outrage is amusing in a way, but I think he was more interested in getting the attention of Beck with hopes of 3o seconds of fame. It’s a sad thing when one has to explain a joke.
By the way…did any of you outraged, humor-impaired people google the address the Michael posted?
I’d like to heap further ridicule on you – for being such a dolt (and a few other expletives).
You are prematurely showing yourself as a sore loser in advance of next week. What goes around, comes around, Goldstein.
@sparky
I did Google the address, both addresses, the one on the original posting (the screen capture on my blog) and the one he changed it to after he got caught. I would like to meet the owner of box 182 at the UPS Store that is there in Suite 100. Keep trying to pass this off as some sort of joke, I’ll just keep sounding the alarm.
P.S. I work during the day so I don’t listen to Beck, never read any of his books and don’t get Fox News, I also see your language skills have not improved.