Reposted from my
blog:
Yesterday over at Centerfield, Tully brought to my attention soundpolitics, a blog seemingly devoted to getting a revote in the Washington Gubernatiorial election.
soundpolitics is alleging very specific charges against the King County Elections Office (KCEO).
Specifically, soundpolitics is charging that the KCEO failed to mail military ballots out on the date that was negotiated with them by the federal government (October 8,2004). Further, they are alledging that KCEO deliberately changed the dates on their website fact sheet from October 10 to October 7, in a nefarious bid to cover up their wrongdoing:
(more after the jump)
He discovered that Bulk Permit #1455, the permit that is used for mailing absentee ballots, only had activity on October 2nd (1,605 pieces) and October 13th (28,000 pieces)... with no activity between those dates!
In conjunction with Stefan's discovery of the Google cache, this is pretty powerful evidence that King County attempted to cover-up the actual date of the mailed ballots.
So in the entire nation, this state and this county was the last to send out military ballots: on the 13th, not on the 7th, or even the 10th (the Sunday before Columbus day). It is simply not reasonable to suggest that a bulk mailing made on Thursday the 7th would not be sent out on the 8th or 9th.
Our military voters were disenfranchised. "Honest mistake" or not, they should own up to the facts, not disappear the truth from their website.
These charges, if true, are quite serious. However, the specificity of information regarding the bulk mailing permit was a red flag for me. Would the United States Post Office give out such information to anyone who walks up to the counter and asks..especially if the questioner doesn't own the permit? And how do they know for sure that the pieces of mail in question were actually absentee ballots?
Yesterday afternoon I set about trying to find the answers.
After a bit of legwork, I eventually contacted the main Business Mail Entry office for the Seattle area, specifically the 98104 zip code, which is the one for KCEO. The gentleman I spoke with on the phone was very nice, but very closed mouthed. I asked my questions and he politely replied that he couldn't give out that sort of information. He also specifically stated that he didn't feel comfortable speaking to someone who might publish such information and that I could speak with his supervisor, who's name and phone number I was given. I also left my name and phone number, asking to be called back.
I then contacted Bobbie Egan, the media relations person for the King County Elections Office. Ms Egan knew of the soundpolitics allegations.
Egan informed me that the King County Elections Office doesn't handle the mailing for most of the military ballots directly. They do send emailed and faxed ballots out to those military people who request them. However, King County uses a hired vendor (contractor) to send out military ballots to most APO and US military addresses. King County puts the ballots in the envelopes and addresses them, then hands them off to the vendor who prepares them for the bulk mailings through the US Postal Service. King County's bulk mailing permit isn't used for these ballots. There is a federal permit used for mailing military ballots. Ms. Egan further informed me that they have a paper trail to verify that the mailings were properly sent. I'm hopeful that she will be faxing me copies of this paperwork later today.
I did get a call back from the USPS, but not the supervisor of the Business Mail Entry office in Seattle. I spoke with the media relations person for the region, who is following up on my questions and is set to get back to me later today.
Finally, I emailed Keith Ervin of the Seattle Times who had this story in yesterday's paper about the ballot number problems in King County, as well as the website changes.
Ervin's piece indicates that the County changed the website fact sheet date for mailing military/overseas absentee ballots from October 10 to October 7, after the erroneous date was discovered. The County says that the number should have said October 7 from the outset, but was inadvertantly changed when the fact sheet was put into HTML. Ervin confirmed that for me in email.
Ervin is also expected to view today the paper trail information from King County Elections Office to be provided by Bobbie Egan. Ervin informed me via email that unless information is forthcoming showing Egan (or Dean Logan of the KCOE) incorrect, he doesn't see a "factual basis for concluding that a mailing wasn't sent Oct. 7."
If the braintrust at soundpolitics had just made a few phone calls, they could have checked their information. Instead, they published what appears to be dubiously and sloppily sourced material, misleading their readership. This misinformation is being used to prop up some very serious allegations.
Bloggers aren't usually held to the same standard as journalists. It's clear that the kind of sourcing and fact checking usually done by journalists isn't part of the blogosphere, in general. However soundpolitics is making some very serious charges (and working hard to self promote in the wake of these charges). Their readership is whipped up into a frenzy without all of the facts.
This tossing about of serious wrongdoing coupled with dubious sourcing and fact checking is irresponsible.
I'll try to have more on this topic later as the facts continue to come in.