Guest blogged by Shannyn Moore
ANCHORAGE – It doesn’t bother me to have fundamental differences with people. If it did, I’d never get out of bed. The person I most respected growing up, my Pop, was and is a conservative ideologue. I’m crazy about him. Disagreeing with facts is fair and healthy. Arguing from a place lacking intellectual curiosity is quite another as nothing is learned nor gained.
Since my first post questioning the voter turnout and other anomalies in Alaska’s election, I’ve been accused of all sorts of things. I have been misquoted in the Anchorage Daily News. They claimed I wrote the election was “stolen.” I wrote “Stolen Election in Alaska?” It wasn’t the word, it was the punctuation.
But there is good reason to be concerned. A lawsuit filed in 2006 in State Superior Court to release the Diebold GEMS Software from 2004 revealed the database had been tampered with. Unfortunately, the user log-in and password were set to the default settings so it was impossible to tell who had edited the software numerous times post election, since all entries were made by “administrator” with password: “password”. So it’s not too outrageous for anybody to believe it’s important, this time, to pay very close attention to the results of last Tuesday’s election…
Since Election Day, the votes have been rolling in to the Division of Elections. They are now reporting 90,635 ballots remaining to be counted; nearly 29 percent (28.8%) of the total vote has not been counted yet.
Though closer to the total votes cast in 2004, the turnout percentage is still down from that election in which neither our own Governor nor Barack Obama were running. The total ballot count is at 314,268, with turnout at 63.3% (registered voters = 495,731). Turnout in the 2004 General was 66.6%, with 314,502 voting and 472,160 registered voters statewide. If 100% of the requested mail-out ballots are returned in time to be counted, we can expect about 3600 more.
I’m proud of the Alaskan mail-in voters. They really seem to have shown up this year. All the envelope licking and stamping, well, it’s impressive! According to the newest numbers from the state, 92% of those who requested absentee ballots have now returned them! Fantastic! You betcha. I wonder what GOTV worked so well, since the 2004 return rate was dismal by comparison. A total of 58,559 absentee ballots were mailed to voters and just 32,075 were returned by the deadline in 2004. That was a pitiful 52%. Hard pressed to figure out why there was such an increase in absentee voter participation this year, while turnout by voters at the polls was so low.
Monday’s newly posted ballots [PDF] include about 4,000 additional “Questioned” [elsewhere known as “provisional”] ballots and about 5,600 additional Absentee ballots. Wednesday, the Division of Elections (DOE) plans to count the majority of early vote and absentee ballots that were verified by Election Day. The DOE plans to count the remaining ballots on Friday. However, there could be enough ballots left after Wednesday’s count for any of the races to still go either way. A public records request has been submitted to the Division of Elections, as per many of the recommendations laid out by Brad Friedman, for a number of important pieces of information that are required so that citizens of all parties may try to ensure an accurate reconciliation of all votes cast.
All camps; Ted Stevens and Mark Begich in the Senate race, and Don Young and Ethan Berkowitz in one of the House races with the strangest results, are still at work. Crunching numbers and refreshing the Alaska Elections website as often as possible. It feels like 2000 Bush-Gore around here.
On the state-side races, leadership positions are being divvied up and plans going forward for the session in January. But polling showed huge differences in at least 5 of the state House races, and with 29% of the votes still UNCOUNTED, it seems prudent to give it some time.
Between the hanging chads in Florida, long lines and lost voters in Ohio, the tampered software in Alaska, and the increasingly long list of all-too-regular election “irregularities,” it’s time for a change. It’s time for a new cabinet level position. Why shouldn’t we consider a Secretary of Election Integrity? We must find a way to insure the basic right of Americans to vote, to have that vote counted and to have it counted accurately and transparently, so that everyone – all political parties and citizens alike — can know that it actually meant something.
Previously related…
• 11/6/08: “SOMETHING SMELLS VERY FISHY IN ALASKA”
• 11/9/08: “Alaska Stinks & Minnesota’s on Edge, So Here’s What Parties and Citizens Can Do to Try and Ensure Election Results with Integrity There and Elsewhere”
• 11/10/08: “Alaska Update: Thousands of Ballots ‘Found’, One-Third Remain Uncounted in the State’s Still-Fishy ’08 Election”
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Shannyn Moore is a Native Alaskan and a top rated progressive broadcaster based in Anchorage, Alaska. Shannyn blogs at ShannynMoore.wordpress.com and Huffington Post.
Thank you Shannyn for an excellent update.
I would suggest Secretary of Elections. The ‘Integrity’ aspect is implicit and the role should cover more than just the integrity. However, I have no strong objection to using Secretary of Election Integrity to make the part that we are currently lacking more apparent.
Amen to that, Shannyn. Even as a youngster I always wondered why our voting systems in America were such hodge-podge, discombobulated affairs. The most sacrosanct aspect of Democracy deserves nothing less then a cabinet position, not to mention a full adminstration dedicated to making elections 100% fool-proof (or as close as humanly possible), universal ballot systems, elimination of private contractors ever touching one ballot, weekend-long voting periods, same-day registration and many and more easier ways to GET registered, paper ballots- I’m okay with optical scanners but only with strict controls, bi/tri-partisan oversight, no secret software, etc. Shit, I’ve been taking tests in shool since the early 80’s with those fill-in-the-bubble scanned sheets, and only if you really butcher them is there ever a problem. ATMs almost NEVER fail… this has just got to stop with the es&s-diabolicaldiebold-premier-my-ass bullsheet!
I would like to see “Secretary of Elections” be selected in a non-partisan way. Also, I would like to see part of the person’s job is to strive for 100% of participation of citizens in voting.
Great work, Shannyn and Brad.
I’m one of those misty-eyed, naive citizens who thinks every vote should count. Originally I came from a country where they vote by marking an ‘X’ in black crayon against a name on a piece of paper, and it’s worked pretty well for 1000 years.
Our election problems may require a much more extensive overhaul than is being suggested. I’m thinking: repeal HAVA first, then propose a new constitutional amendment that provides minimum standards for election integrity, and also create an independent body with election oversight, similar to the General Accounting Office. My preference would be for all voters to be registered automatically whenever they have any contact with local, state or federal government, all ex-felons to be automatically reinstated, and the burden of proof to be on the state to prove ineligibilty, not the other way round.
Just my wild-eyed wishes.
Thank you, Shannyn, for staying on top of the situation in Alaska. If there’s specific help that’s needed, please ask! Sometimes there are tasks that can be done from afar. Sometimes people need to show up in person. You’re worth it. Alaska’s worth it. The voters are worth it.
My thoughts too, Dezoars #4.
Keep up the excellent reporting & research Shannyn! Bless you.
In SoS positions, we need people who put integrity first & political party allegiance out of mind.
There should be a way to remove them when it becomes apparent these elected officials are acting in a rabid partisan manner.
The corrupt infestation makes my skin crawl.
In state related voting let the state determine what voting method they use. But, all national offices, President, Senate and House should be on hand marked, hand counted paper ballots in which the vote and the paper trail are one in the same.
We (Canada) have a question on our Income Tax forms that allows us to have our name added, or information updated, to Elections Canada’s Register,or not. I have always checked “yes” but no more, with the new Photo ID rule now to vote, I will say no as it seems the information from Revenue Canada is not proof enough that I have a right to vote and am who I say I am!!!!
It’s difficult living in this world as an honest person. I am almost tempted to rob a bank or something.
I thought I would turn Hannity on for the first time in years, and a good deal of the first part of the program was devoted to saying the democrats are trying to “overturn the will of the people” in Georgia and Minnesota. He came up with a story about some guy with ballots in the front seat of his car. The lying liars are at it again.
Knowing that there are questions out there about the 2002 race in Georgia being stolen by Saxby, shouldn’t the media be shinning a light? OK, dumb question.
It might be a wonderful idea to have a “Secretary of Election Integrity”, I am sure that “ACORN” would be happy to furnish one at no cost.
In light of your comments about over 100% voting in some precencts in Anchorage in 2004, I thought you might be interested in a news artice that appeared in the Juneau Empire on 10/23/08:
http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/102308/sta_347530973.shtml
which reported that some voters had voted twice in the August 2008 primary. The election officials counting the absentee ballots have been alerted and are supposed to be comparing names of voters from precenct voting lists with absentee ballots. Stay tuned.
I would oppose a cabinet position. Rather, it should be the responsibility of the FEC, in order to prevent a czar- like position from being abused for partisan purposes.
This Alaska count stinks to high heaven. There is no way, in a state with an estimated 495,000 registered voters according to the Bureau of Elections’ own data, an increase of 27,000 from four years ago, a favorite daughter running for VP, a hugely popular nominee on the other side for president, and hotly contested Senate AND Congressional races — simply no way that turnout dropped, not even with the awful weather they had on election day, which was merely awful by Lower 48 standards but par for the course for Alaska.
I think it’s safe to say there are another 40,000-50,000 ballots unaccounted for. And from the numbers out so far, it seems that ballots in Democratic strongholds like central/north Anchorage, the northern Panhandle, and the bush country are somewhat sparse in number. Mat-Su of course has huge numbers with its rapidly growing population, but so do lots of other Republican areas with stable population. So what’s going on?