Thread: Hippocritic Democrats? No never...but they're legal to work

Published: 11.14.2006

Use of foreigners to count votes vexes local Dems
By Daniel Scarpinato
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Arizona has gone to great lengths to ensure that only U.S. citizens can vote in elections.
The same goes for poll workers, who must be qualified and registered to vote.
But to the surprise and dismay of some local Democrats, those who count your votes don't have to meet the same requirement.
The Democrats say they are troubled because three foreigners — legal residents with work visas — helped to conduct Pima County's electronic vote tabulation last week.
Two Lithuanians and one Syrian were employed by the county to help run the machines used to scan votes, said Brad Nelson, director of the county Elections Division. One of the Lithuanians is a permanent county employee. The other two are temporary workers brought in to help with the election.
The county had 50 or more people helping with the ballot-counting process, Nelson said.
"The question that is raised for us is with strict rules for poll workers being qualified electors and registered voters in order to work at the polls, it seems illogical that the requirements would not follow through to the counting of votes," said Donna Branch-Gilby, chairwoman of the Pima County Democratic Party.
Current state law says that "all election personnel shall be qualified electors and registered to vote in the state of Arizona." But the law makes no mention of those who count ballots, said Joseph Kanefield, the state elections director, who works for the Secretary of State's Office.
Bill Risner, an attorney for the county Democrats, confirmed that the office appears to be correct.
"My view is they never thought of it. It just never came up," he said.
Maricopa County has addressed the issue, however. It has a policy requiring all employees in the Elections Division to be registered voters — thus citizens.
But Nelson said Pima County's current practice works fine. He said background checks are done on everyone hired to tabulate the votes — creating a stricter and more secure environment than what is required in polling places.
"Everybody who has access has been background-checked," Nelson said.
County Supervisor Richard Elías, a Democrat, agreed.
"I don't think there needs to be any change to that," Elías said. "I do expect that they be nonpartisan in their approach to the work."
Republican Supervisor Ray Carroll said reaction from the public should help drive how the board addresses the issue.
"As long as there was a group of people doing it, I don't know what the reaction would be, except they got the job done," Carroll said.
Carroll said he would like to review the policy because "obviously, I think its inconsistent" with the requirements for poll workers.
Scrutiny of election procedures has been more intense lately due to "election integrity" committees set up by Democrats statewide. The committees were created because of fears about flaws in new electronic voting machines.
"The election process is the foundation of how we make decisions in a democracy," Branch-Gilby said. "When accuracy is questioned, it's a cause of great concern."
Those concerns prompted outgoing state Rep. Ted Downing, a Tucson Democrat, and state Sen. Karen Johnson, a Mesa Republican, to back a bill requiring hand-counted audits of elections. The pair have talked about possible legislation to address the issue of noncitizens counting votes, Downing said Monday. Johnson, traveling in Washington, said through an aide that she was reviewing the issue.
The Republican Party seems less interested in the issue than Democrats are.
"If the people were hired and screened, I have no problem with it," said Judi White, chairwoman of the Pima County Republican Party.
Another election-security concern raised since last Tuesday's vote is that access to the main computer used to tabulate the the ballots was granted without representatives from both parties being present to supervise.
Nelson said that was done only because there was an emergency with a malfunctioning machine at one of the polling places, requiring workers to access the central computer area. He said in the future, party representatives will be present the entire day to make sure they have the chance to observe any access.
● Contact reporter Daniel Scarpinato at 807-7789 or dscarpinato@azstarnet.com.
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/printDS/155868

i call for a recount or better yet a revote...

"The question that is raised for us is with strict rules for poll workers being qualified electors and registered voters in order to work at the polls, it seems illogical that the requirements would not follow through to the counting of votes," said Donna Branch-Gilby, chairwoman of the Pima County Democratic Party.

Looks like they just used the Democratic logic used in the casting of the votes. Quit whining.

Originally Posted by loservillelabor

"The question that is raised for us is with strict rules for poll workers being qualified electors and registered voters in order to work at the polls, it seems illogical that the requirements would not follow through to the counting of votes," said Donna Branch-Gilby, chairwoman of the Pima County Democratic Party.

Looks like they just used the Democratic logic used in the casting of the votes. Quit whining.

so using non-Americans is logic?!..RECOUNT,,,REVOTE,,RECOUNT.