A Question for our County Auditor
Yesterday we all received our ballots for the presidential primary election. We are expected to fill them out and mail them in by February 19. The instructions are complicated and confusing - as see
Yesterday we all received our ballots for the presidential primary election. We are expected to fill them out and mail them in by February 19. The instructions are complicated and confusing - as see
One instruction is we are to check a box on the outer green envelope stating our political party membership and sign our name swearing the truth of that check mark. Then on the ballot, we are told we must mark a candidate of the party we checked on the green envelope. Yet, the ballot is enclosed inside a white security envelope.
Question for Shirley Forslof, our Whatcom County Auditor:
4:30 pm - Note: At bottom of post is Shirley's answer.
How, pray tell, will you verify if voters do vote for the party candidate on the ballot that they check on the green envelope?
You see, gentle reader, after the green envelope signature is verified, the white security envelope - with ballot inside - is tossed into the box of ballots and separated from the green envelope. It is not opened at the time the green envelope signature is verified - because if it was then our vote would not be secret.
So this signature thing and how you vote thing are completely dysfunctional. There is no verification, no enforcement, and no consequences for checking one party on the green envelope and voting for the other party on the ballot. And if you do not sign a party affiliation then your ballot is not counted.
Ahh, but what am I but an unwashed citizen. Just check John Watts blog for verification of that. How dare I comment on what the experts have spend countless hours fabricating.
Of course Shirley's answer will be posted here.
James Johann has an excellent letter in today's Herald on this subject of our being required to swear party membership as Republican or Democrat before being allowed to vote. It is, of course, an unconstitutional process. And so far - 8 am - there are four comments. I bet this one gets a record number of comments. They mostly are the ignorant and scathing types of comments typical of the Herald website - telling him to "shut up" and accusing him of paranoia and stating complete false statements such as the green envelope only asks us to state the party we "favor". The word favor is not used.
The statements:
I declare that I am a member of the Republican Party and I have not participated and will not participate in the 2008 precinct caucus or convention system of any other party.
OR
I declare that I consider myself to be a DEMOCRAT and I will not participate in the nomination process of any other political party for the 2008 Presidential election.
Folks, that is swearing that you are one or the other. I am neither and will not be voting. I refuse to sign my name to such. Yes, our tax dollars subsidize the two political parties. Our Washintton State voting system is controlled by the back room party hacks in Seattle.
4:30 pm, Friday, Feb 1: Answer from Shirley Forslof:
The Green Envelopes with Democratic Party checked are put in batches of approximately 125 envelopes and are given a log sheet with Democrat identified on the log sheet. The same process is repeated for green envelopes with Republican Party checked.
One batch at a time the white secrecy envelopes will be removed from the green ballot envelopes that have Democratic Party checked. When all white secrecy envelopes of that batch have been removed from the green ballot envelopes, the green ballot envelopes will immediately be placed in a separate location to ensure confidentiality of the ballots. The white secrecy envelopes will be kept together with the log sheet that originally accompanied it.
The above process is repeated for the green ballot envelopes that have Republican Party checked.
The ballots will then be removed from the white secrecy envelopes beginning one batch at a time. All ballots will be examined to ensure that the party marked on the ballot corresponds with the party marked on the log sheet. If the ballot has a vote for a party other than the party designated on the log sheet, the ballot cannot be counted. If the ballot has a vote for more than one candidate, the ballot cannot be counted. *****