Another Blog on Voting

Hmm, apparently there’s a Caltech and Reed College collaborative blog on Voting Issues, called Election Updates. It’s early morning and I can’t sleep so I’ve been catching up on blog research and editing.

So Election Updates just clued me in on the apparent news that Kentucky Secretary of State, Trey Grayson, wants to adopt no excuse absentee ballots in the heart of the South. Good luck with that! With a Virginia Mayor already going to jail for forging absentee ballots in 2006, it’s not suprising that a SOS would want to make the system more prone to fraud rather than less! It’s sad, but not suprising.

On that note, I posted a long position paper with the title “Why No VBM?”, as a page with a permenant link at the top of the website. As I have time I will update the article. If you are wondering why I write a blog on this topic of vote by mail, and the disturbing side of voting through the US post office, this article will give you some insight. You may also want to check out my old campaign website, to understand that I’ve been part of fighting against bringing Vote By Mail to Washington State and my home county.

Ok, well that’s my insomiac post for the night…. I’ll have to look up the Dave Attel show now and watch a little YouTube.

More Electoral Fraud By Mail – Dec. 12, 2006

I’ve been following this story since it broke, and today brings additional convictions in the story of the Mayor that recently rigged his own election using mail ballots. Instead of paraphrasing, I have added a few choice quotes from the article below.

December 12, 2006, DailyPress.com, VA

GATE CITY, Va. — A former Gate City mayor convicted this summer of manipulating vulnerable residents into voting for him through absentee ballots was found guilty Tuesday of 13 additional vote-fraud charges.

Prosecutors said Dougherty sought out elderly and unsophisticated voters in their homes and persuaded them to give false reasons for voting by absentee ballot. In some cases, voters testified, Dougherty filled out their mail-in ballots, voting for himself.

“For the most part, what he did was stick a piece of paper in front of people and say, ‘Here, sign it,” special prosecutor John Alexander told jurors Tuesday. “This is outrageous.”

Dougherty won the May 2004 election by two votes, 357-355, but received 138 of the 158 absentee ballots cast. He later lost the post after his opponent, Mark Jenkins, challenged the results in court.

Vote By Mail-A Great Example of Voting Badly

http://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110009167

A great opinion piece on the problems with Vote By Mail.

One Month After the Election… Votes Still Being Counted

From Humbolt County, CA:

The Humboldt County Elections Office ran ballots from the 21 vote-by-mail precincts Wednesday afternoon, working through about 700 ballots in a little over an hour. While the new vote tally certainly marked forward movement, the reported results around 3:30 p.m. had very little, if any, effect on the closely contested races. + The only affected race, in fact, was that for Humboldt County 4th District Supervisors, which gained a mere 51 votes from Fairhaven and its surrounding areas, increasing incumbent Bonnie Neely’s lead by two votes. There was also one more write-in vote for the 4th District Supervisors’ race from that precinct. + Eureka’s mayoral and City Council races, as well as the renewal of the city’s utility user’s tax, remained unchanged. + It’s Thursday that will witness the real tooth-grinding and pacing of Elections Office halls, however, as elections officials tally the votes on about 5,000 or so outstanding absentee and provisional ballots — many of which will have a bearing on the tight races. + If all goes well, candidates should have the final numbers to work with by mid-afternoon Thursday. Rebecca S. Bender/The Eureka Reporter

http://www.eurekareporter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?ArticleID=17997

One month after the election, and absentee ballots are still being counted. This is absurd!

Mayor Uses Absentee Ballots to Rig Election, Dateline Nov. 30th, 2006

Here’s an interesting story about a mayor who rigs elections using, what else?… absentee votes.

During an October trial of one of Cooper’s 13 co-defendants, the ex-mayor was portrayed as the key figure in a plot to rig the election – mostly through intercepting absentee ballots from the mail and forging the names of the intended voters – and create a rogue police department.

http://www.jacksonville.com/apnews/stories/113006/D8LNO64G2.shtml

But this isn’t speculation, no, the mayor plead guilty. Vote by mail may not be as secure and fraud free as those who support it would lead you to believe. Just a thought.