Thread: Corrupt Voter Registration in Washington state

http://bham.redstate.com/story/2006/8/3/14454/17434

Corrupt Voter Registration
By: Bham · Section: Diaries


Saying that Democrat Christine Gregoire's 133 vote victory in the 2004 Washington gubernatorial race shows "the public interest weights strongly in favor of letting every eligible resident of Washington register and cast a vote," [sic] US District Court Judge Ricardo S. Martinez on August 1st struck down a state statute requiring that voter registration applications match a valid drivers license or social security registration. Local coverage here.

This lawsuit against the Washington Secretary of State had been brought by plaintiffs organized by the Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU Law School (brennancenter.org). Overall, the plaintiffs list is comprised of the usual liberal Dem proxies, and seems obviously targeted to advance Dem political clout.

I've done independent data mining of Washington's registration database, with special attention to my own county (Whatcom) and, to make a long story short, concluded that the overall error rate in the "honest" counties is about one percent. There are about 3.4 million registrants in the whole state. I included in "errors" duplicates, deceased voters, and dubious non-residents. The error rate in King and Pierce counties -- Washington's most populous -- is even higher. As the Evergreen Freedom Foundation (effwa.org) has documented, the voter fraud in those Dem strongholds is probably overt. EFF's county-by-county follow up of voting fraud prosecution was also very discouraging, with essentially nothing meaningful being done about these putative felonies.

As of this writing it isn't clear whether either the Washington Secretary of State or Attorney General (both nominally Republicans) intend to appeal this decision. If they do, it will have to go to the Ninth Circuit -- often termed the "Ninth Circus" -- arguably the most reliably liberal appellate court in the nation. That sure doesn't bode well.

If you combine motor-voter registration will negligible identity checking I contend you've got the makings of a corrupt election, before the first "vote" is cast.


Aug 3rd, 2006: 14:45:03

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com

Tuesday, August 1, 2006 · Last updated 5:23 p.m. PT

Judge bars Wash state from enforcing voter registration rule

By GENE JOHNSON
AP LEGAL AFFAIRS WRITER

SEATTLE -- A federal judge on Tuesday barred Washington state from enforcing a new law that keeps people from registering to vote if their names do not perfectly match identifying information in other government databases.

U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez agreed with lawyers who claimed that under the law, misspelled names or other minor errors could improperly prevent people from voting.

The law, designed to help prevent voter fraud, took effect Jan. 1. It directed Secretary of State Sam Reed to compare driver's licenses, state identification cards or Social Security numbers on registration forms with records from state and federal agencies to ensure that a voter's information matches.

Potential voters could not be registered without a proper match. People whose applications were questioned had to respond to the state's efforts to verify their identity within 45 days, or they were not included on the rolls. As of June 22, 178 people had had their registrations rejected or canceled because of the law, and thousands more were trying to clear up their identities with the state.

The Washington Association of Churches, minority voter groups, a labor union and antipoverty activists sought an injunction preventing the state from enforcing the law, and the judge agreed. He noted that the requirements for registering to vote are that a person be a citizen, 18 years old, a 30-day resident of the precinct in which he or she wishes to vote and that the person not have lost the right to vote or been declared legally incompetent.

The state "has failed to demonstrate how an error or omission that prevents Washington state from matching an applicant's information is material in determining whether that person is qualified to vote," Martinez wrote.

"This ruling knocks down an unnecessary barrier to voter registration," said Justin Levitt, of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, which represented some of the plaintiffs. "Voters who are eligible shouldn't have their registrations hung up by a typo, a married name or any number of other reasons."

Gov. Chris Gregoire won the 2004 election by just 133 votes over Republican Dino Rossi. Given that margin, Martinez said, "the public interest weighs strongly in favor of letting every eligible resident of Washington register and cast a vote."

Reed had not had time to review the nine-page order and was not prepared to comment, his spokeswoman, Trova Heffernan, said Tuesday afternoon.

Washington enacted the law in response to the federal Help America Vote Act, which requires states to keep accurate voter lists by matching names and driver's license or Social Security numbers with those in existing databases. But under the Help America Vote Act, the right to vote does not hinge on such a match.

"It was never intended to stand in the way of an eligible voter," Levitt said.

Washington has an estimated 3.4 million active voters.

He noted that the requirements for registering to vote are that a person be a citizen, 18 years old, a 30-day resident of the precinct in which he or she wishes to vote and that the person not have lost the right to vote or been declared legally incompetent.

Since we know how prevelant ID theft and bogus ID are among illegal aliens...basically this judge has ruled that illegals can vote.

Am I wrong? Please, I want to be wrong on this.

US District Court Judge Ricardo S. Martinez on August 1st struck down a state statute requiring that voter registration applications match a valid drivers license or social security registration. Local coverage here.

I don't think you are wrong Pat. Sorry. I am wondering what the procedure is to impeach a judge. I suspect this may occur in other states as well. I think it is time to take a serious look at the 9th District. Here is some information regarding bills in the house that you may want to go to congress.org and message your representatives about them

--------------
S. 1845, the "Circuit Court of Appeals Restructuring and Modernization Act" which would break up the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals into two new circuits
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H.R. 4093, the
"Federal Judgeship and Administrative Efficiency Act," including the
"Circuit Court of Appeals Restructuring and Modernization Act" which would break up the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals into two new circuits.
----------------
H. Res. 97 "Reaffirmation of American Independence Resolution" advising the federal courts that their role is interpreting US law, not importing foreign laws - a clear violation of the separation of powers. This resolution affirms the sense of Congress that judicial decisions interpreting the U.S. Constitution should not be based on any foreign laws, court decisions, or pronouncements of foreign governments unless they are expressly approved
--------------
Eminent Domain legislation to curb the globalists.
H.R. 4128, the "Private Property Rights Protection Act", which would help to fight back against the Supreme Court's recent decision in "Kelo v. City of New London".

In a 5-4 decision, the Court held that government may seize the home, small business, or other private property of one owner and transfer that same property to another private owner, simply by concluding that such a transfer would benefit the community through increased economic development. This new legislation would prohibit such transfers of private property, without the owner's consent, if federal funds were used, and if the transfer was for purposes of economic development rather than public use.
-----------------------
Protection Act H.R. 2389, needs to be passed THIS YEAR.

Pledge Protection Act is passed and signed into law this year. Tthis bill will protect and secure our official and legal acknowledgment of our national relationship with God.
Second, this bill will serve as a much needed "check and balance" against a judiciary that has already tried twice to remove the words "under God" from our Pledge. (A case requesting the same result is presently pending in the United States District Court in California, which is within the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.)
The passage of this bill will serve as a tremendous encouragement to an overwhelming majority of Americans that want to preserve our American values from judges that are legislating from the
bench.


Other proposed legislation that is important can be found at http://www.ConservativeAlerts.com/

xanadu,

You are GOOD!

Thanks for the info...

I can see I have work cut out for me.

Here's another article I ran across about voter fraud in Wisconsin. Looks like they also have a lot of loopholes that would enable illegals, and other nonqualified people to vote.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=479868

Election fraud plan to miss fall vote
Database ready, but lists of felons, dead won't be checked
By PATRICK MARLEY
pmarley@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Aug. 3, 2006
Madison - Election fraud will not be as easy to catch this fall as had been hoped because technical glitches and data problems will prevent the state's new voter database from being checked against lists of felons or dead people.

The voter database also will not be compared with the Department of Transportation's file of driver's license numbers before the fall elections, said Kyle Richmond, a spokesman for the State Elections Board.

Election officials plan to roll out the long-delayed database to almost all municipalities by the Sept. 12 primary.

The biggest problem is with the felons list. Even when technical hurdles are overcome, elections officials will be unable to use the list of felons provided by the Department of Corrections because it does not include dates of birth or valid addresses for many of the 63,000 felons on the list. A check of 7,000 entries found about half had problems, Richmond said.

Investigators and auditors identified instances of felons voting and people voting twice, and raised the possibility that people voted in the names of dead people, in the November 2004 election in Milwaukee. The Elections Board has told lawmakers the new database will help clear up those problems.

The disclosure about the felons list marks the latest trouble for the voter database, which was supposed to be ready this past Jan. 1 under federal law.

"It's something that should have been done last December, and done right. And now it's done this fall half-assed," said state Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Madison), a frequent critic of the project.

But Barb Hansen, director of the Statewide Voter Registration System, said the Elections Board is nearing a milestone because virtually all municipalities will use the database in the fall. There are now more than 300 municipal voter registration systems in the state, and about 1,550 municipalities have no registration system at all because state law did not require communities with fewer than 5,000 people to have them.

"For the first time ever, (the new system) will allow municipal clerks to identify data problems because we'll have one single list," Hansen said.

Even if computer technicians find a way to integrate the various lists into the voter database before this fall, election officials won't use the information. Doing so would likely overwhelm municipal clerks as they are being trained on the complex system in a tight time frame, Hansen said.

The state is spending $27.5 million in mostly federal money to build a system to run elections and track voters. Software developer Accenture is getting about $14.1 million for its work. Congress ordered the states to create voter registration systems after Florida's rash of election problems in 2000.

Falling behind
All states were to have statewide voter registration systems by Jan. 1, but Wisconsin and at least nine other states have yet to complete their lists, according to electionline.org, which monitors voting reforms.

The state expects to use the registration system in virtually all municipalities in the Sept. 12 primary, though not all functions will be in use by then. The Elections Board plans to complete the project by the spring 2007 elections, but even then will still have to work through problems with the felons list.

Accenture has provided interfaces allowing the voter database to accept information from the other lists, but state computer workers have not yet been able to integrate the various systems, Richmond said.

Sen. Robert Cowles (R-Green Bay) said the state has to get a handle on its computer contracts because so many have been delayed or gone over budget. A legislative audit of those contracts requested by Cowles is under way.

"It's particularly galling to pay someone for something and not get a service," he said.

Owen Davies, an Accenture executive director, said the company will not be paid fully until it finishes its work.

"We are delivering on the commitments we have," he said.

Cowles said the problems with the felons list could shake voters' faith in the system.

"We need to make this a priority to get this running at least by the spring so people have confidence that felons aren't voting," he said.

People convicted of a felony cannot vote in Wisconsin while they are on state supervision. The Department of Corrections list includes some felons whose voting rights have been restored, Hansen said.

When fully functional, the voter database will alert election clerks when names in the voter database match the names of felons or people who have died. Clerks can inactivate voters once they verify they are not qualified to vote.

The records are expected to generate many potential matches. Clerks will need a lot of time to figure out which of those matches are valid - time they don't have before the fall elections, Hansen said.

"It is too risky for us to be adding a new thing," she said.

None of the three lists can be plugged into the voter system yet, but workers have encountered the most trouble with the felons list. When the state tried to translate the list of 63,000 felons into a format the voter database can use, only 7,000 names came through. In addition, the Department of Corrections does not track all the information needed for the voter list.

For instance, the department rarely collects Social Security numbers and does not collect driver's license numbers. The department has also warned the Elections Board that many birth dates might be wrong because people sometimes provide false information, according to the Elections Board. The department did not ask felons for their birthdays before 2004.

The list includes up to nine aliases for each felon, which greatly increases the chances of false matches, Hansen said.

A check of 7,000 entries on the felons list found about half of them did not include valid addresses.

John Dipko, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections, said the addresses in the system are helpful to probation agents but might not be what elections officials need.

The Elections Board has not contacted the department about the matter, he said.