archy

Hometown stupidity
This might not be the stupidest policy I've ever run across, but it is definitely in the running.

Democratic Party volunteers are frantically calling voters whose provisional ballots are in dispute, urging them to make sure their vote is counted in the state's still-undecided governor's race.

The volunteers went to work Friday night, after party officials successfully sued to get access to the names of 929 voters -- all in heavily Democratic King County -- whose ballots were questionable. They planned to keep working through the weekend.

Elections officials said there was no reason to release the names, because voters who cast provisional ballots know those ballots may need to be verified, and it's up to each voter to contact the county and make sure the vote was counted. Provisional ballots are used primarily when a voter is not at his home precinct or if registration is in question. [My emphasis - John]

Leaving aside all issues specific to this election--which party is ahead, which party is challenging--has any one ever heard of anything so stupid? Has it ever occurred to any reader that, after casting their vote, they have a responsibility to call the county and ask them if they counted it? Has it ever occurred to any reader that they have to remind the county to count their vote before the county will do so?

Keep in mind that this is not happening in Flaming Cross, Alabama where the last Democrat left in 1989. This is King County, Washington. This is Seattle!!! In some districts of Seattle the Republican Party hasn't bothered to put forth a serious candidate in decades. In some precincts, if we get to two Republican votes, we throw them both out because it means the bastard voted twice. These are Democratic officials making the Democratic candidate jump through small, flaming hoops held high above the ground. This is not a state policy. In the rest of the state, Republican county officials have cheerfully handed the lists of provisional voters over to the Republican Party for them to prepare their challenges to the vote total.

This is one more example of why we need to clean up the thicket of contradictory election laws in this country.