As election nears, state GOP using unique tactics
SEATTLE -- Polls show the race for governor is still neck and neck with less than a week before the election.
The race is so close that one candidate's team is actually going door to door in some neighborhoods and offering to take voters' ballots off their hands.
With 1,177,000 voters, King County is critical to the governor's race, and it's a county Democrats must win big if Jay Inslee is to come out on top.
Democrats have made 3 million phone calls and rang more than 1 million doorbells for their candidate, but Republicans know the stakes, too.
GOP volunteers are going door to door in east King County, and they're offering a unique service.
It was Wednesday night that two men showed up at Steve McDonald's door to let him know they'd take his ballot to be counted.
"It was Halloween. There's a lot of tricksters around the neighborhood. I was thinking it was a joke, but they had a very serious look on their face," McDonald said.
The men offered to mail his ballot for him. As it turns out, McDonald had already voted, so the men left. Still, he said it was an odd experience.
"After someone leaves, you're kind of like, did I just get bamboozled? I didn't get bamboozled because they didn't take my ballot, but they sure knew a lot of information about me," he said.
McDonald even called the FBI to make sure the practice was legal. The men also showed up at Jaime Oberg's home, where they received a similar reaction.
"They said they were representatives of the Republican party and they offered to turn in my ballot," Oberg said. "I chuckled and thought, these guys are up to no good."
The men weren't lying. They actually were from the Republican party, and they even called King County Elections to let them know what they were doing,.
"It is not prohibited by law. There is no a law prohibiting that activity, (but) we always recommend against it," said Sheril Huff of King County Elections.
The party told elections officials they planned on dropping the ballots in a drop box. One hundred GOP volunteers will be out again on Monday and maybe Tuesday, and they say getting the vote out is especially critical this year.
The race is so close that one candidate's team is actually going door to door in some neighborhoods and offering to take voters' ballots off their hands.
With 1,177,000 voters, King County is critical to the governor's race, and it's a county Democrats must win big if Jay Inslee is to come out on top.
Democrats have made 3 million phone calls and rang more than 1 million doorbells for their candidate, but Republicans know the stakes, too.
GOP volunteers are going door to door in east King County, and they're offering a unique service.
It was Wednesday night that two men showed up at Steve McDonald's door to let him know they'd take his ballot to be counted.
"It was Halloween. There's a lot of tricksters around the neighborhood. I was thinking it was a joke, but they had a very serious look on their face," McDonald said.
The men offered to mail his ballot for him. As it turns out, McDonald had already voted, so the men left. Still, he said it was an odd experience.
"After someone leaves, you're kind of like, did I just get bamboozled? I didn't get bamboozled because they didn't take my ballot, but they sure knew a lot of information about me," he said.
McDonald even called the FBI to make sure the practice was legal. The men also showed up at Jaime Oberg's home, where they received a similar reaction.
"They said they were representatives of the Republican party and they offered to turn in my ballot," Oberg said. "I chuckled and thought, these guys are up to no good."
The men weren't lying. They actually were from the Republican party, and they even called King County Elections to let them know what they were doing,.
"It is not prohibited by law. There is no a law prohibiting that activity, (but) we always recommend against it," said Sheril Huff of King County Elections.
The party told elections officials they planned on dropping the ballots in a drop box. One hundred GOP volunteers will be out again on Monday and maybe Tuesday, and they say getting the vote out is especially critical this year.
If this doesn't prove how corrupt WA. Republicans are I don't know what will.Â
People will remember this in future elections. Â Eastside Democrats will never
turn their ballots over to anyone. We've watched their desperate tactics for years.
Why Not think of this positively??
Why jump to conclusion that all good intensions are bad?
Our system is innocent until proven guilty...Give the benefit of the doubt.
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I can see the reason behind this action, is to make sure those who wanted to vote, that their ballot is counted.
The group is offering a convenience, and we have to question that.Â
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SOLUTION:
1. Prepaid return ballot envelopes, so no one have to worry about getting that extra postage or the right postage, or just ran out of stamps. 9The likes at post offices can be very long, and out of the way (few POs)
2. Have legit ballot boxes for drop off, to make it convenient for EVERYONE who are ELIGIBLE to cast their ballots.
3. STOP pointing fingers & COME together. (If you don't share with those around you, they won't know who you voted for anyways.)
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Remember, vote for the best candidate based on their ability to do the job.Â
WE are HIRING for a vacated post. Voting along the party line is like voting for your friend
who you know may not be the best fit for the position....and you're doing it because you're a "friend"...
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 @whynot You're kidding, right?  This smacks of voter fraud. Who in their right mind asks someone for their ballot so they can mail it for them?Â
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Come on.Â
I'm sorry, but what the hell??? Â We need some federal legislation that addresses these vote suppression tactics we've been seeing.
I don't care which party someone is from. I'm putting my own ballot in the mail or box, thank you very much.
Legit or not, I would never turn my ballot over to any stranger at the door. As for these folks being republican, unless you "tell them" that you voted democratic Party, they wouldn't know, and visa versa as well. Then again, as I learned a few years ago, I can find that info on how a person votes online real easy.
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It may not be illegal, but if you turn your ballot over to a stranger at the door, once that door closes, you may spend a lot of time wondering if you did the right thing or not. I voted already, and I took care of mailing it in myself.
 @WSims007 I'm pretty sure that the minute they walked away with your ballot, they steamed it open to see who you voted for. If you voted Republican, your ballot went on to be counted. Voted democratic? It got lost.Â
 @LarissaÂ
If they steamed it open, they can't reuse it so it is a loss either way. This should be illegal. No one should ever have to hand their ballot to anyone for any reason.
Oh yeah...fer sure... let some republican come pick up my democratic ballot to make sure it gets to the polls on time. Riiiiiiiiight. They say it isnt illegal. It SHOULD be illegal for ALL parties to do this. Come on people. Is your vote so unimportant you cant take it to the mailbox yourself? Sheesh!
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Individuals dealing with the ballots should be under video survelience and not be allowed to have pencils or any other objects that they might use for tampering. Â You can't tell me the people who volunteer don't have strong political feelings that can influence them to do something unethical. Â The Mormons alone believe in lying, and even murder, in the name of what they believe to be righteous causes. Â Those are the scariest kind of people.
So, either they're targeting GOP-leaning voters and legitimately returning those ballots, or targeting non-GOP voters and throwing the ballots away (or both). Â Assuming the less-sinister scenario (and considering some of the voter-suppression tactics the GOP has already tried this year, that's not a given), why not just pass out stamps instead of training their voters to hand over their ballots to complete strangers?
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Sounds like they don't have much more respect for their voters than they have for the "other side".
I really dislike mail in voting. It distances the voter from the polls, and makes fraud much more possible. you're also forced to sign your ballot, which means your vote is not anonymous. It also lets many people vote long before election day. I don't like it. Bring back our polls. I want to stand in line and vote.
 @Bellevue Scott Some people simply can't get to the polls. They're disabled or they won't be in town to vote. They still have every right to vote. Whether or not you like absentee voting is irrelevant.Â
First off, as others have said, you sign the envelope, not the ballot itself. That's no different than signing in when you used to go tot he polls in person. It's exactly the same. @Bellevue ScottÂ
 @Bellevue Scott You sign the declaration on the envelope, not the ballot.
Personally, hearing about electronic voting machine irregularities, tactics by poll watchers, challenges at the polls, I would think most people on all sides would prefer this.
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Paper ballots can be recounted for accuracy. Â Paper trails give information, flipped votes on electronic machines don't. Â Don't trust the mail? Â Great, drop it in a drop box. Â Given the chaos going on in states like Ohio, I find voting in this state to be quite efficient.
@Bellevue Scott & The Truncheon: I'm sorry to hear you don't like voting by mail. I've used an absentee ballot almost as long as the State has allowed "no excuse" absentee requests. By the way. You are wrong when you say you sign your ballot. You do NOT. Any more than you sign your ballot at a polling place. You sign the outer envelope, similar to signing the voter log. The two are separate and they never meet.
 @Bellevue Scott Agreed 100%.
That makes no sense, why would the GOP does this? Â Its incredibly shady! Â You honestly have no idea if they delivered it or not.Â
@kinison: I agree. I am really reluctant to hand my ballot to just anyone. Especially someone who just showed up at my door. Democrat or Republican!
 @kinison It would be even more shady if democrats were pretending to be from the GOP and then throwing away the republican voter ballots. Or the other way around...
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The point of my post is that NOBODY should let some random stranger handle their completed ballot at your front door regardless of who they say they are.
 @nwbackpacker  @kinison Agreed,  Shady no matter what.  I got email from the state Dem party, they simply asked me to mail or drop my ballot.  If they showed up at my door, I would not have been happy.
Time for a truly viable 3rd Party with truly viable candidates.
 @TheTruncheon Won't happen as long as Washington has the incredibly limiting "Top Two" primary.
http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/11/02/king-county-warns-that-gop-is-trying-to-collect-ballots
I wouldn't give my ballot to any stranger. I trust the post office but not some door to door do gooders/ con artists.
Who knows where they will take your ballot.
Folks, please understand that every now and then the stories you read are not true. Especially when a party is threatened by the leftwing biased media seeing a tide of change that may happen, and a Democratic leaning state who may actually have a new thinking Governor that actually cares about our State.Â
 @ObsidianOne So in the article, where they contacted the state GOP, it's not true?  Please.
@ObsidianOne : I just called GOP headquarters in Bellevue asking about them hiring door to door canvassers. Here is exactly what I was told: "We're going door-to-door to help people fill out their ballots, then you bring the ballots to GOP headquarters, and we take them to the ballot box." Call them at 425.990.0404. They are paying $20/hr., and pairing people up.
Why does this immediately remind me of the guy employed by the GOP to register voters dumping Democrat registrations in a dumpster?
 @Mikeftm Since people do NOT register a party preference in Washington State how would the GOP registrar even know if a person preferred Democrat over Republican?
 @Furd  @Mikeftm social media and about a million other places.Â
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 @the unvarnished truth  @Mikeftm why does your post remind me of a big crybaby?
Republicans "bamboozling" voters??? Nothing new about that.
 @felines99 And nothing new about Democrats bamboozling voters either.