I've been
posting these diaries to Kos because I believe that the underhanded and dishonest tactic being used by the King County GOP to disenfranchise voters is something other Democrats are likely going to have to deal with in the near future.
Yesterday we heard Democratic lawyer Kevin Hamilton argue the case against these voter registration challenges - today brought us Democratic heavyweight David McDonald.
Mr. McDonald is the former Chair of the King County Democratic Central Committee, and last year at this time was leading the legal team during the Governor's race recount. McDonald was representing Barbara Harriet, who was registered at a mailbox at a self-storage facility. Lori Sotelo (the challenger) admitted that she herself did not take the photo of the storage facility or visit the location, and could not provide the Canvass Board with an address where she thought Ms. Harriet actually lived (although she did say that she could provide the Board with a "reasonable idea where she might live").
McDonald took this as a chance to further grill Ms. Sotelo:
(please keep in mind, all "quotes" are reconstructed from my notes, and not to be construed for the exact words used by anybody - I did the best I could to recreate their words, as well as the spirit of their words)
McDonald: The box that was checked on the challenge form was not there when you first received the form, correct? (You can read more about these altered challenge forms
here)
Sotelo: I've answered this question before. (Kevin Hamilton had gone over this on Monday)
McDonald: But this is a new challenge, and the affidavit you signed didn't address your additional checkbox. You added the box - is that correct?
Sotelo: My evidence speaks for itself. We covered all of this yesterday.
McDonald: Did you alter the affidavit?
Sotelo: I'm not going to answer. My evidence speaks for itself.
McDonald: Did you have personal knowledge that this address is not a residence?
Sotelo: My evidence speaks for itself.
McDonald: If you're not going to answer, that's fine - just say so, but a "yes" or "no" would be preferable to this non-answer to all of my questions.
At this point Dan Satterberg (Canvass Board member) interjects with a question to McDonald:
Satterberg: Mr. McDonald, what is wrong with the affidavit Ms. Sotelo signed?
McDonald: She needed to sign a sworn statement in regards to her added 6th box. She is stating a different basis of challenge from those listed in the original affidavit. The affidavit lays out a basic threshold that a challenger has to meet in order to challenge a voter's registration, and it is nonsensical to waste all this time and money without meeting a basic threshold. Without requiring that a basic threshold be met for a challenge to move forward, we're opening the door for fishing expeditions!
McDonald turns his attention squarely back to Ms. Sotelo:
McDonald: Do you have any personal knowledge that Ms. Harriet can't vote?
Sotelo: I won't answer that question.
McDonald: Do you have any personal knowledge about Ms. Harriet's age, which could affect her ability to vote?
Sotelo: I won't answer that question.
McDonald: Do you have any personal knowledge about Ms. Harriet's status as a United States citizen that could affect her ability to vote?
Sotelo: I won't answer that question.
McDonald: Do you have any personal knowledge that Ms. Harriet doesn't meet any of the exceptions laid out in the Washington State Constitution in regards to her voting registration?
Sotelo: I won't answer that question.
McDonald: Do you know where in this storage facility the resident manager lives?
Sotelo: I won't answer that question.
McDonald: I move for dismissal. Her statement that she has a "reasonable idea of where she (Ms. Harriet) lives" doesn't meet the requirements laid out in the statute. These "drive by challenges" will enormously burden the public. If you let these challenges to forward, then you'll be allowing future fishing expeditions.
McDonald was finished, and walked to his seat to applause.
McDonald's argument points to what is most wrong in these challenges - the fact that Ms. Sotelo has no personal knowledge about any of these voters that she's challenging (as she attested to under penalty of perjury on her fabricated challenge forms). The statutes about challenging voter registrations set the bar very high on what Ms. Sotelo has to be able to prove - the burden of proof lies with her, and the challenge begins with the Canvass Board assuming that the voters registration is valid. It is wrong for the King County GOP to use such a powerful statute willy-nilly.
Mr. McDonald's other major point was that because Ms. Sotelo couldn't produce a new address for Ms. Harriet (as required by the statute in order to file the challenge), that the challenge never should have made it this far - if Ms. Sotelo couldn't meet that minimum level of due diligence, then she didn't deserve to have her challenge move forward. If we're willing to keep entertaining challenges that don't meet these minimum thresholds, then we allow groups to use the challenge statutes to intimidate - not to clean the roles, as the law was intended.
Last Thursday I would have pinned the chances of a Democratic victory in these challenge hearings close to 50:50 (I am admittedly a bit of a pessimist, after all), but after hearing the Republican case crumble in the last two days, I'm beginning to think that we may actually see all of these cases tossed out, and all the votes counted.
And to the one Republican troll reading this - these aren't people trying to vote illegally - every voter that has come to testify had a reasonable explanation as to why they were registered incorrectly, and all were open to taking the steps needed to fix it. In almost every case it was simply a mistake or a misunderstanding. These are all Washington State citizens, and only the most dishonest and partisan among us would want to quash their voice and their vote.
UPDATE: I attended Wednesday's Challenge Hearings, and you can read about them at Washblog. And as switzer has pointed out, there was a celebrity defending his vote. Interesting stuff. Come on by, and check Washblog out!