No Neutrality

Let's Get Ready To Rumble...

 Michelle Malkin echoes something I've already anticipated since the last election when she quotes Michael Graham:

"Either we win, or you cheated!"

I've been anticipating this for some time and it will become a more entrenched article of faith anytime a conservative wins in anything like a "close" race. The integrity of the voting process will constantly be questioned and newer, more error prone measures (like electronic voting) will be instituted and then subsequently decried as part of the "rigging"--all in an effort to win without resorting to an actual revolution or overthrow.

Unless something radical changes, Hugh Hewitt's dictum will rule the day: "If it's not close, they can't cheat; otherwise, you can expect to see Republicans/conservatives forced to choose between maintaining legitimately won offices or conceding races for the sake of maintaining a viable republic.

Let's Get Ready To Rumble...

 Michelle Malkin echoes something I've already anticipated since the last election when she quotes Michael Graham:

"Either we win, or you cheated!"

I've been anticipating this for some time and it will become a more entrenched article of faith anytime a conservative wins in anything like a "close" race. The integrity of the voting process will constantly be questioned and newer, more error prone measures (like electronic voting) will be instituted and then subsequently decried as part of the "rigging"--all in an effort to win without resorting to an actual revolution or overthrow.

Unless something radical changes, Hugh Hewitt's dictum will rule the day: "If it's not close, they can't cheat; otherwise, you can expect to see Republicans and Conservatives forced to choose between maintaining legitimately won offices or conceding races for the simple goal of maintaining a republic.

Voting Circus Goes National

 You just KNEW this was coming:

In a polarized political climate, in which elections are routinely marked by litigation and allegations of incompetent administration or outright tampering, some worry that voting problems could cast a Florida-style shadow over this fall's midterm elections.

"We could see that control of Congress is going to be decided by races in recount situations that might not be determined for several weeks," said Paul S. DeGregorio, chairman of the federal Election Assistance Commission, although he added that he does not expect problems of this magnitude.

Mm hmm. Wait till Republicans keep the House or even gain seats. Watch the "magnitude" increase. The stage must be set to be able to contest election outcomes in case the candidate of choice does not win. "We warned about this well before the elections ever took place!" will be the defense.

You heard it here first.

HT GOP USA.

Washington State Voting Circus Is Here!

 Fresh from OrbusMax:

Thousands of primary election ballots across the state will not be counted for next week's partisan races because many absentee voters have failed to indicate at the top of the ballot if they wanted to vote as a Democrat or Republican, election officials said.

One out of 10 voters in Kitsap and King counties and two out of 10 voters in Snohomish County failed to fill in the oval at the top of the ballot to show they were voting in the Republican or Democratic primary, election officials found by looking at small groups of absentee ballots mailed in so far.

That doesn't mean none of their votes will be counted, said Bobbie Egan, spokeswoman for the King County's elections department. But only the votes in nonpartisan races, such as those for state Supreme Court, will be counted on ballots where the party is not indicated.

-Associated Press

And if you're in a county that still allows in-person voting, the machines will catch the error:

Voters who have already mailed in their ballots cannot get them back to fix, Egan said. But voters who make this mistake at the polls in counties where they can vote in person will see their ballots spit out of the voting machine if they fail to mark a party.

Cool. Except I'm not in one of those counties. Let the Washington State voter games begin!

See the masters of all things voting related in WA State, Sound Politics, for more commentary.

Ruling In Favor Of Gregoire

I didn't get a chance to hear the entire ruling, but sounds like, despite tons of illegal felons voting, "surprise" ballots found at the last second, and Rossi winning the first two counts, the Court has "found" in favor of Ms. Gregoire. 

UPDATE:

I heard rightly.  SoundPolitics' Andy confirms.

Speaking Of The Governor's Race...

The estimable Michael Barone weighs in with a look at the Democrats' fetish with selective recounts on display during the 2000 presidential elections as well as our recent gubernatorial election contest (ongoing!). 

Bottom line--the Democrats have only succeeded in making themselves look bad, judging from the quantifiable reactions (read, "how they are faring at the polls nation-wide")  to their vote counting slight-of-hand tricks.  Had they managed to get Gore in the White House using these tactics in 2000 they would look even worse than they do now.

Proof? Just look at how Gregoire is faring under her "success"...

Reed Makes Himself Useful

Better late than never. The PI reports Secretary of State Sam Reed's proposal for election reform.  His suggestions:

1. Move the primary from September to June
2. Required written notification to voters whose signatures are bad or missing.
3. Fund a yearly 13 county election review
4. Require a ten day deadline after certification for legal challenges

There are some things missing here, aren't there?  How about some restrictions on voter registration? How about some statewide standards on canvassing? How about if we do something to overhaul the election circus in King County?

At Least Somebody is Doing Something

OK, these are not the main event, but you have to admire average folk with the stones to put themselves forward like this.  According to KIRO news, two Washington citizens have now moved ahead with their own challenges to the recent unpleasantness we all know as the "certified mess," otherwise known as the Washington governor election.

Daniel P. Stevens of Fall City sent the court a one-page notice saying he was contesting the election because the margin of victory is within the election's margin of error, "to the point that error must be assumed as a certainty."

Arthur Coday Jr. of Shoreline filed an 11-page brief arguing that the hand recount was fatally flawed for several reasons and asking the high court to inaugurate Rossi as governor.

Stevens also argues, according to KIRO, that the state constitution and the hand recount law are in contradiction since allowing the Democrats to pay for the recount violates free and equal elections. Hmm.... Kiro also makes it sound like Stevens wants the court to legislate from the bench a law that requires that the results of all the counts be averaged together to determine a winner. Can't say I like that idea.

In all likelihood these will be dismissed, especially the ill-conceived demand that the court inaugurate Rossi with no revote, but so what?  And anyway, it would appear that neither of these are lawyers, and as Hugh Hewitt can tell you, if you aren't a lawyer, how can't you be qualified to say anything that matters?

Enjoy it, this may be all you get if the Republicans and the Rossi team don't get their challenge submitted by tomorrow.

More on King County's WillFul Neglect

Mac over at Pull On Superman's Cape reports that KING5 News investigated voter fraud in Washington back in 1998 as a result of a nationwide investigation by the Fair Elections Group. Referencing the video from KING5, Mac says,

The Fair Elections Group immediately reported: There are thousands of voters illegally registered and voting in King County!

In the video, King County officials promise they will correct the problems. Later the King County Council met about reform and noted that there were thousands of cases of illegal voting in King County and that the King 5 investigation and videos were significant and instrumental in pointing out the problems.

The Fair Elections Group also determined that about 5,200 voters in King County were registered twice.

An exhaustive crawl of the King County web site doesn't find any effort of any kind of reforming voting procedure or registration reform any time between 1998 and the present.

This supports my contention that King County is culpable for their "incompetence." It is willful, not accidental, not just an oversight. They know full well that such "incompetence" favors their candidates and as a result have done nothing in the past seven years to resolve any of these issues.