Washington State Politics

Many of you know that Washington State had a long, drawn out election process to detrmine our Governor. The Republican candidate won the General election by a very narrow margin, and per state law, a recount was completed. The Republican candidate won again, However, the Democraic candidate insisted on a hand recount. This 3rd recount had numerous problems: Ballots not counted in the previous counts were suddenly found and counted; invalid or no signatures on the mail-in ballots, deceased votes counted, voters convicted of felonies were counted, etc. The end result, the Democratic candidate won the manual recount and was declared winner.

There is now a movement to get a revote. The state Republican party has a court date set. However, one legislator, Rep. Jeannie Darneille(D-27) who represents parts of Fife and Tacoma, has written an email addressing the fact that if there were a revote, the dead would be disenfranchised.

"The Center for Health Statistics reports that every month an average of 3,700 residents die in Washington State. A significant number of these are of voting age. This means that since the November election, approximately 11,100 residents have passed away – they do not get a chance to vote again.

I want their votes in this Governor’s race to count. I don’t think it is appropriate to eliminate their voices."

What? They are dead. Of course their votes won't count. Additionally, there are a large number of people that have turned 18 and are now eligible to vote that weren't in November. The offset, in my mind, should be pretty much a wash. This is truely unbelievable.

Thanks for the heads up on this politician from Stefan Sharkansky at Sound Politics.

Signing Off. Until next time, I'll see ya on the Blog! drh.