Wash. judge nixes Dems’ attempt to disenfranchise troops
Many friends in Washington state alerted me to the Democrat Party’s attempt to disenfranchise our troops overseas through a lawsuit claiming that GOP gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi “confused” voters by identifying himself as “GOP” instead of “Republican.”
A judge has ruled today and stopped the Dem stunt. Thank goodness someone in a robe has some common sense:
A King County Superior Court judge says Dino Rossi can identify himself on the November ballot as preferring the “GOP Party” instead of “Republican.”
Some confusion over the term is “unavoidable and inevitable,” Judge Richard Eadie said this morning. But he said it would be more confusing to try to change ballots so close to the election, especially when some military ballots have already been mailed out and returned.
The state Democratic Party challenged Rossi’s use of the term GOP, which stands for Grand Old Party, a nickname the Republicans picked up in the 1870s. Recent polls have shown that some voters didn’t know that GOP meant Republican.
Kevin Hamilton, attorney for the Democrats, said Rossi was using the term GOP to “try to cloak his membership in the Republican Party.”
State Republican Party Chairman Luke Esser said Rossi has used the term GOP for years, and he questioned the validity of the recent polls.
The Secretary of State’s state office also opposed the Democrat’s lawsuit, arguing that it was too late to change the ballots and that the law didn’t require it.
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Categories: Democrats, Voter fraud
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Just trying to win the Obama way…be the only one on the ticket…because otherwise the Democrats look like the fools they are!
“…by any means…”
Even disenfranchising the troops they pretend to support.
I have a feeling this only the first like this from the D’s about our troops voting. We need every service person anywhere able to have their vote counted in our national elections.
L
Recent polls have shown that some voters didn’t know that Democrat meant Communist.
Once again, the Dems hiding behind a smoke screen while trying to steal an election.
Where the hell are our lawyers going after all their fraud. We have to wait for some honest elections worker to blow the whistle. Oh, well, business as usual for the last bastion of democracy.
…and how much did the Washington taxpayers pay for this ridiculousness?
Don’t say they don’t support the troops!
How stupid do they think the us military is?
I have no problem with a person identifying themselves as GOP. It’s six of one, half a dozen of the other.
Of course the Democrats don’t want to use their acronym, GIB. (Greedy Instrusive B@$TARDS)
Dirty.
Whatever it is I am confident the majority of voters on this part of the left coast do not care. Anything to stop the nightmare of a mildly conservative government taking over in Washington State.
But all sour comments aside, this decision is good news even though it offers a stark preview (already!) of what will happen the day after election day should The One lose.
Well, that judge can kiss his robes good-bye.
I’m pretty sure Republicans can figure out minor details like this. On the other hand I also don’t doubt that Dems (who were befuddled by those incredibly complicate ballots in Florida in 2000) may be confused. In he name of fairness to the Dumbocrats we should put a photo of the candidate next to the name. We wouldn’t want to confuse the highly intelligent, sophisticated supporters of the “Party of Ideas”.
Kind of like the way the Socialists hide behind the name Democratic Party.
Yes, good comment. His decision is a career killer, but maybe he is nearing retirement so he no longer cares.
Would you consider it more or less dirty than putting a statewide election for Senator at the bottom of the ballot in direct violation of an entirely unambiguous law?
Claiming that the Democrats are trying to disenfranchise military voters is quite a stretch. At worst, it is an unfortunate, and unavoidable consequence of the Dems trying to enforce election laws, which I suspect say that the proper name of the party must appear with the candidate.
I thought you guys were all about tough enforcement of our election laws.
No No No that will not do, you must be racist why are you trying to remind everyone that Obama is black.
There’s a lot to be said for splitting Washington down the Cascades and making another state.
We’d have Western Washington (Birkenstock, Volvo, Latte, etc.) and Eastern Washington (Boots, Chevy, and Folgers).
I don’t know much about his politics, but maybe he doesn’t like the Republican party’s drift to the center/left and decided to try to get back to the roots of the Grand Old Party.
I believe John Kerry answered that a few years ago. Remember? You get sent to Iraq if you ain’t be edumacated.
I’m surprised the Dems would shoot themselves in the foot like that. Based on the MSM reporting from Iraq, I thought all the troops don’t support the war and are voting for Obama anyways. Strange.
Ha!
The voters that did identified themselves as either Republicans or GOP.
My car was vandalized in Seattle. Trashed.
Perhaps it was my “Nuke the Gay Baby Whales” bumper sticker.
Ah huh, sure. right. It doesn’t hurt that the military always votes heaily for the GOP (thats the republican party for those poor confused liberals out there.)
Apparently it’s OK. I couldn’t find an actual copy of the law.
Hey chap, read the article:
Reading comprehension. It’s a wonderful thing.
I know what they, who coincidentally let the bad ballot out and would have to spend time and money to fix it, say the law says.
I also know how to look up a statute.
Funny it did not say one thing about nicknames or aliases for parties.
Legal research skills. Its a wonderful thing.
Right, like Gore didn’t try to do that in the 2000 elections by claiming that military ballots weren’t legitimate because they didn’t have postmarks? The
DemsSocialists would never try anything like that, would they?Nice try.
chap
It also doesn’t seem to say anything about NOT using nicknames or “aliases” for parties.
Kind of like the Democrats’ insistence on being listed as the “Democratic” party - not the Democrat party.
Aloha,
I looked at the top-two statute and found nothing saying they could list whatever party they wanted.
Feel free to search here.
LOL! so true
If you knew anything about statutory construction and interpretation you would know that is an absurd argument. but common sense should tell you the same thing.
The judge here didn’t refuse to pull the ballots because the ballot was legal. He apparently did it because he felt the potential harm outweighed the potential benefits.
May I please have an honorary citizenship in the great State of Eastern Washington? Justification: Never even THOUGHT about buying Birkenstocks, my personal transport really IS a Chevy pickup and Folgers really is the only coffee in my kitchen! Add to that that the two things I love most about Sarah Palin is the fact that her very existence really chaps the A$$es of the Dems and libtard feminists in my office and she fishes, hunts and loves her family!
There is no violation of the law. The candidate declares his affiliation. It is neither the Secretary’s obligation nor right to change that.
Everyone knows GOP = Republican. I fail to see what this changes.
And yes, I do question the timing. Rossi put “GOP” on the primary ballot, all the way back in August. The Democrats have had plenty of time to address this. Waiting until now looks suspicious. It makes Gregoire look desperate.
Hey, we’re not all tree-hugging, dirt worshipping communists over here. I don’t even know where to look for Birkenstocks, won’t drive a Volvo, and sometimes I don’t even recycle
Although I do love a good latté . . .
Let’s not split the state. We need you guys on the other side of the Cascades as a to counterbalance the festering cesspool that is King County.
chapoutier: Don’t try and equate common sense with legalese. Lawyers don’t use common sense.
Care to cite an actual statute to back this up? I linked Washington’s ballot laws above.
And sorry, GOP is not the name of a political party. And not everyone knows what it means.
I can see their point about the party nickname. The problem I have with it is the same as with the famous Palm Beach County butterfly ballots.
Why don’t they ever find these problems when they are given the ballots for review? I’ll tell you. This way they can raise a stink and cry foul when they lose. If they found these problems ahead of time, they wouldn’t have any other reason to complain about the result.
Haven’t you noticed that it’s never because their candidates suck? It’s always because the election was stolen during the recount, or the election supervisor is corrupt. Never anything you can clearly prove like dead voters.
We are… that’s why everyone who votes should have photo ID. Those ACORN progressives are trying to steal the election by fraud and Dems want to make sure that can get away with it by way of opposing requiring ID at the polls.
So don’t preach about election law. If it was fully enforces a lot of Dems would have prison cells.
sonofdy,
If the phrase:
seems like some high faluten “legalese” to you, then you might want to seriously question your verbal and vocabulary skills.
Anyone know how he was listed on the primary ballot? In theory they should be the same.
NJ-Aviator,
Actually I was for, and stated so here, the voter ID law which came up in, I believe, Ohio. If you care to search, it is somewhere on this site.
Believe me, I come from Washington State and Democrats here have absolutely NO interest in enforcing election laws. They are far too busy breaking them.
First of all, Barack Obama’s ACORN was convicted of the largest case of vote fraud in Washington State history during the 2004 election.
Secondly, the Democrat run King County election office has failed to mail ballots to Republican leaning precincts, and only Republican leaning precincts, three elections in a row.
And Democrats very famously stole the 2004 gubernatorial election from Dino Rossi, whonot only won, but won the recount, and only lost on the third count after heavily liberal King County (seattle) “found” previously unknown crops of ballots 16 different times. Each time it was clear that they hadn’t manufactured enough votes to overcome Rossi’s win, they suddenly “found” some more unsecured ballots. 16 times!
And Senator Slade Gorton also won his last re-election bid only to have it stolen from him by Maria Cantdowell based entirely on highly contoversial and suspect provisional ballots.
And finally, as the very popular and highly regarded Secretary of State, Sam Reed noted, the law allows candidates to list their party affiliation as anything they want in any way they want.
So, no, Democrats have ZERO interest in enforcing election law, they are doing everything in their power to skirt, manipulate, and break election law in order to win.
By the way, to everyone else, because these tactics were so successful in stealing the election for Democrats here, plan on Democrats using them in your states this election. I gurantee they will.
“Prefers GOP Party”
The Democrats have known about this for months.
It’s also worth noting that Rossi was not the only one to identify himself as GOP.
Like I said, this is sour grapes.
As Hugh Hewitt said about the dems in ‘06 elections…”if it isn’t close they can’t cheat.”
Three recounts and a 129 vote margin of victory.
Have you joined Team 129? I really like the text message campaign.
The same can be said about Colorado and the Rocky Mountain. Denver elite libs and Western Slope conservatives.
Has anyone acknowledged the very obvious reason this candidate altered his affiliation? It’s because he knows the troops dislike Republicans. The Republican brand is dead. He was trying to confuse voters with this sly change. Why deny it?
All right folks, I just read the article linked in the article linked by MM and the more I look into the timing of all of this, the worse it looks.
It is sour grapes.
Notwithstanding, I think legally, the Dems are correct.
But if they have known about this since June there should have been an immediate challenge.
So….I relent.
Here’s the whole section:
If he he wasn’t nominated by two different parties then “the filing officer shall give effect to the party designation shown upon the first document filed.” If “Prefers GOP Party” was on the form he filed when he decided to run, that’s what should be on the ballot. (IMO).
chapoutier: Common sense would say GOP = Republican since it has for over 100 years. Legalesse says they are not the same. Take you elitist crap and shove it. This was a blatant attempt to suppress votes and only an idiot lawyer could say otherwise. Crap like this is why lawyers and politicians fight for the lowest occupation as far as honesty goes. THANK GOD I never became a lawyer.
Aloha,
The point is that there is no “GOP Party” so that is not listing a party designation. It should not have been on the ballot.
Someone’s cranky, sonofdy.
I don’t react well to stuck up snobs who think they are better than everyone else. ie lawyers.
According to the WA Sec of State the law didn’t require a change so one could conclude that the “proper” name ISN’T required by law.
I also suspect that you aren’t required to be affiliated with ANY party in order to run for office so leaving it blank would have likely been acceptable as well.
Right you are.
Voter suppression by the Democrats is nothing new here. They’ll try anything to tip the balance in their favor. They’re deathly afraid of Rossi, especially since they have nothing on him.
That said, I would agree it’s best to let this one go. They have no ground.
Here’s the form you fill out. You have 16 blanks you can use and whatever you write in there goes on the ballot, and the State supplies the “(Prefers … Party)”. You can also check the “(States No Party Preference)” box. There is no official list of parties to choose from, nothing to say you cannot use a nickname.
How would that even matter? Even if a dim-ocrat did not know that GOP was synonymous with Republican, they should at least know their own. I mean, really, they are the enlightened ones, no?
(NO)
I rank lawyers below used car salesmen.
Chapoutier just proved why.
Bull! Dino has called himself ‘GOP’ during the _last_ election (you know the one he lost only after King County ‘found’ a bunch of ballots during the recount?). Over at Sound Politics they have a video from the last election where he would say ‘Dino Rossi - G.O.P.’
You can also use any name you want for yourself including nicknames as long as no political, military, occupations, etc.
So Dino Rossi could run as “The Big Stud” if he wanted to. (Assuming that wouldn’t “intentionally mislead” voters.)
CrazyFool -
I really wouldn’t worry about Omu. His argument is completely unencumbered by fact.
The Italian Stallion might be more appropriate for Rossi
Chapoutier:
See http://apps.leg.wa.gov/WAC/default.aspx?cite=434-215&full=true#434-215-120
The relevant section:
(1) On a declaration of candidacy, a candidate for partisan congressional, state, or county office may state his or her preference for a political party, or not state a preference. The candidate may use up to sixteen characters for the name of the political party. A candidate’s party preference, or the fact that the candidate states no preference, must be printed with the candidate’s name on the ballot and in any voters’ pamphlets printed by the office of the secretary of state or a county auditor’s office.
This reflects the recent change in WA law allowing what this candidate chose to do. If you’re going to tell other posters to do their legal research, then you should make sure that yours is thorough first.
That being said, I think this post is absurd. The Democrats fighting the use of ‘GOP’ clearly were not intending to disenfranchise military voters. By their own admission, polling showed that voters preferred GOP to Republican.
The lawsuit was foolish political games, but to claim it was an attempt to undercut the military vote is to place an ulterior motive where there is none.
Come on guys, you know the Dems would never resort to cheating. That form of electioneering belongs to us on the right! What they are afraid of is that using party nicknames will become prevalent after this ruling. That means that some of the arrogant and elitist liberal snobs may actually resort to listing their affiliation as ‘Communist’, ‘Socialist’, or ‘Dumba$$’. Although there is a slight difference between a communist and a socialist, the definition of a dumba$$ is strictly synonymous with a Progressive Democrat!
Hey folks, don’t knock Omu too badly. After all, he is a celebrated author. His latest book, “Idiocrity for Dummies” is number eerht on the Barnes & Noble ‘Worst-Seller’ list. Omu will be in the alley behind the Space-Saver Mall in Fernbrook tomorrow from 2-4 (a.m.) for a book-burning and mugging event. Bring the kids, bring your mace, and come on down!
Watching this “great” debate every night playing out on the news here in Western Washington, the suit was filed to recall the ballots because of an alleged mistake on Dino’s part, though the “High-2″ ballot that Washington State voters overwhelmingly put into place last election cycle spell it out clearly. He can put whatever he wants and if you do not understand the term GOP, maybe you should go back to school before you learn to vote. Plain and simple. The timing of this suit is very suspiciously timed, though.
Regarding the military vote…as a military member, I talk to many folks in the military and believe me, they are still VERY strongly GOP supportive.
Get over the little BS and concentrate on the real issues. GO DINO!!!
I didnt realize the hurricanes had pushed all the Florida ‘I dont know how to punch a ballot correctly’ voters up to Washington State…
So as long as it didn’t list Democrat, they could use deductive reasoning to solve the mystery? I mean, there are only two legitimate parties; sorry Libertarians, but you know it’s true.
BTW, I guarantee nine of ten Dems know what GOP means!
We’re talking dead people…
OMU
I’m sure you’re out there somewhere! Please provide proof that the troops dislike Republicans! I’m sure you know tons of military people who feel that way, right? My husband is in the military and has been for 20 years. I know not one military family who supports Obama or any liberal Democrat for that matter. Just like most liberals, you speak only from emotion without an ounce of fact to back up your statements. Your constant blanket statements, like this, and yesterday’s “Republicans are always homophobes and morons” just proves that you are the one without “sophistication.”
Sometimes, I just don’t know why I bother.
I think I just saw a pig fly.
Chappie, you are such a lawyer. And don’t take that as a compliment.
Nutz!So as long as it didn’t list Democrat, they
couldcouldn’t use deductive reasoning to solve the mystery?Those confused voters would be the “urban outdoorsmen” sleeping on benches in Pioneer Square. The ones listing city hall as their address.
How about the fact that the troops are donating to Obama 6:1 over McCain?
Republicans are mostly homophobic, yes. It doesn’t take sophistication to realise that it’s not Democrats that are persecuting gays and denying them even basic rights like protection under the law against hate crimes.
Oops, forgot to link to the source for that statistic. It’s here.
Another Democrat sues after losing an election? Why is it whenever democrats lose they sue and when republicans lose they quit?
You always quote that same statistic, but not all military members have the money to donate. Not to mention the fact that there are over 2.3 million active duty and reservists who obviously haven’t all donated or those numbers you site would be much higher. I’m still waiting for you to tell me how many active duty military members you personally know since you are such an expert on how we feel.
Alas,
I don’t expect you to answer that question just as you never answered my question the other day.
You are by far one of the biggest ninnies I’ve ever heard. All you do is call Republican and Conservatives names. What gays are being persecuted? They have the same rights the rest of us do right now. I think hate crimes are bullsh*t. You know why? Because, to me, it doesn’t matter what color you are or what your sexual orientation is, if someone assaults you, kills you, etc. I believe in justice. You are the one who is qualifying the crime. And BTW, you’re the one who accused us of not being sophisticated. As far as I’m concerned that makes you an elitist, like so many of your peers.
chapoutier, it looks like you need a bit of a history lesson here.
In the 2004 election of Rossi v Gregoire, Gregoire eventually one after Rossi had one the original vote count and the automatic recount. It was not until the tribes paid for the 2nd recount that Greogoire prevailed (which she then renegotiated the gambling compact to remove profit sharing with the state costing the state aprox 1.4 million a year in revenue). Gregoire one by 129 votes; yet there were roughly 1600 ballots from the 81st BDE (WA State National Guard) that were not counted due to them not arriving in time (not to mention the hundreds of lost overseas ballots that King County never found though show that were delivered to them). The estimate of those 1600 ballots not counted were almost 80% for Rossi. The state legislature worked to move the primary up so that this would never happen again.
With that being said, Gregoire and the State Democratic Party realized that she would not have one her first election if the military ballots had been counted. That is why this looks like it was an attempt to disenfrachise the military oversead ballot once again.
I say this as Gregoire and the Democrats brought the issue of Rossi using GOP back in June but said they did not choose to file a suit back in June prior to the ballots being printed and mailed (and soem ballots have already been receied by the SoS office already).
The timing of this lawsuit coupled with the events in 2004 are highly suspect and lead one to believe that this was an attempt to try to ensure the military vote (which is very Conservatve) did not count.
On another note, the claim that people would be confused by the GOP label is bogus. Rossi and Gregoire ran against eachother in 2004 in a highly contested and publicised election and election challenge court case. Since 2004 there has been numerous stories regarding the 2004 election. Plus there has been quite the advertising flurry for the past 6 months on behalf of both candidates. This election has been cited in numerous MSM stories as a rematch of the 2004 election. With all the publicity of this election in WA if a voter does not know who Rossi is and what party he belongs too they are probably not voting to begin with.
I don’t need anecdotes. That statistic is far too largely in favour of Obama for it to be a polling mistake or whatever. You know 4 or 5 military families that support McCain; I have statistics that take into account thousands of soldiers. I wish I could be more magnanimous, but I’m afraid I have to say this: I win, and your claims that Obama doesn’t understand the military are intensely misinformed.
The gays that have to deal with constitutional amendments that seek to place discrimination against them into state constitutions and even the US constitution. That’s persecution and it isn’t Democrats that are doing it. The gays that get fired from their jobs because of their sexual orientation, but have no protection under the law because of neocon scum preventing ENDA from passing for so long. That’s persection. The gay and lesbian teenagers who are bullied constantly but know that Republican controlled school boards will never allow anti-gay bullying measures in their schools. That’s persecution. If you don’t understand the meaning of a hate crime, then I suggest you read up on it a bit and find out why the concept exists for certain minorities.
And to top it all off, the gay people in the South who know that once they fall in love like the rest of us do, they’ll never have the chance to have their relationship recognised in any way.
Republican persecution of gays and lesbians is absolutely outrageous and I get so annoyed even thinking about what you people put the gays through!
.
Looks to me Omu must be talking about British troops by the way they spell favour compared to the American version which is favor.
One other thing Omu, what ever statistics you think you have you may want to check the source. I live and work with the troops in Iraq and have been to multiple bases here in Iraq for the past year and a half. I have talked to far more than 1,000 troops (probably more than 5,000 troops) and I can tell you from my experience that maybe 1 in 10 is voting for Obama the rest are voting McCain. They may not agree with McCain on some issues (especially immigration), but they want a Commander In Chief that truly believes in them and doesn’t just pretend. The troops were not very impressed with Obama when he came through in July. He told them what he wanted to hear and did not listen to what the troops had to say or what they felt (not to mention it appears that his trip was more a way to try to interfere with the current SOFA negotiations than anything) So before you go believeing your polls (probably got the information from the fake soldiers gropu Winter Soldiers 2)try talking to the troops yourself you might have an epiphany that will destroy your pre-conceived liberal beleifs about the military.
American Elephant, Comment #44, has a good synopsis on the Gov. Gregoire theft of the 2004 election.
Yesterday, a Guardsman here in WA State told me the Guardsmen’s absentee ballots from Iraq were “accidentally” routed to Alaska and not counted in time for the gubernatorial election in 04.
Now, because our Guard are now headed back to Iraq, they are (rumor has it) planning to bring an Air Guard plane back to McChord AFB (Tacoma) with the ballots. I love the NG’s do-it-our-way attitude.
Going around the Governor to get the votes counted. That’s my state…