On the heels of last week's revelation that the King County GOP is laundering money for Rowley Enterprises to buy the Issaquah City Council (letting that corporation spend $1 dollar per voter to ensure they get a big fat contract to build a new road that residents don't want), we have more evidence of shenanigans and unfair dealing by the King County GOP.
Meet Kathleen Dolan. Kathleen is a soft-spoken woman who has lived at the same address on Queen Anne since she bought her house in 1975. With the exception of six years spent teaching at universities in Tennesee and Pennsylvania, she's lived in this house for thirty years. The last time she lived elsewhere was in the late '80's. In all that time, she has always been registered to vote at one address: the home where she lives. But this week, she received a letter from King County Elections telling her that her right to vote was being challenged by the King County Republican party.
Lori D. Sotelo, Vice Chair of the King County GOP and Chair of the "Voter Registration Integrity Project", claims that she has "personal knowledge or belief" that Ms. Dolan doesn't live at her address. Lori Sotelo and Kathleen Dolan have not met, and do not live near each other (Ms. Sotelo resides peacefully ensconced on Mercer Island with all the other liberal elites). Yet, Ms. Sotelo claims to have personal knowledge of where Ms. Dolan actually lives! Not only that, she apparently has "personal knowledge" that 1,942 other King County voters don't live where they say they live. She's a very industrious and social person, this Lori Sotelo!
Except it isn't true. I spoke with Theresa Bushnell, a resident at the home of Barbara Taylor, both voters who have also been challenged by Ms. Sotelo. Ms. Taylor manages a storage warehouse, and her home is onsite, as many storage facilities require their managers to live on the property. Ms. Taylor has four registered voters in her home including Ms. Bushnell, and has lived and voted at this address for at least eleven years. They have not met, nor do they live near Lori Sotelo, yet again she claims "personal knowledge or belief" that these validly registered voters are not qualified to vote OR don't live where they say they do.
[Clarification - text removed here. I have no personal knowledge of other media reports at this time.] It seems Ms. Sotelo and her "Integrity Project" simply got addresses for storage facilities and Personal Mail Box facilities (such as Mailboxes, Etc.), and cross-checked those with registered voters to find people whose addresses matched or, apparently, were close. Then, without bothering to contact these voters, drive by their homes to see if they were real, or do any due diligence other than checking columns in Excel spreadsheets, they filed challenges to these voters claiming "personal knowledge" of their living arrangements.
In other words, they went fishing. They know these are bogus challenges. They know they're in Democratic precincts. They know that, once again, they're cheating the system in order to deny legitimate voters the right to vote. They're lying, and acting like bullies in the hopes that they'll get their way.
Here's how the challenge works: Lori Sotelo, liar, cheat and bully, challenges your right to vote. You are notified that your registration has been challenged. You can still go vote, but your ballot is marked "challenged", and set aside. All non-challenged votes are counted. Then (this is the great part), you have to attend a hearing to prove you live where you say you live. Lori Sotelo, liar, cheat and bully, also has to attend these hearings, but I have my doubts that she will actually bother to try and substantiate her claims, because she has no actual knowledge of any of these voters' situations, and THAT is a truth that she undoubtedly has "personal knowledge" of. Once you've proved that you live where you say you live, your vote will be counted.
In talks with King County Records and Elections, we've learned that the phones are ringing off the hook as folks have received their challenge letters. KCRE confirms that at least a few have already decided not to vote at all, because they won't be able to attend a hearing and it just isn't worth it to them. Which, of course, is exactly what the King County GOP's gang of liars, cheats and thugs wanted all along. At least one challenged voter has challenged the challenge (!), because Ms. Sotelo, in her haste to cheat legitimate voters of their rights, forgot to date the challenge form itself as required by state law.
Kathleen Dolan is incensed by this intrusion into her life, and Ms. Bushnell is offended that Lori Sotelo, the lying, cheating bully, would claim any "personal knowledge" about her right to vote. These people are not activists. They are citizens, who have every right to participate in their democracy. Ms. Dolan had even planned a trip out of town starting today, and was going to sit this election out - hadn't even thought about it. She's cancelled her trip, and this election is front and center for her now. When I spoke with her, she was just about to call the Governor's office to complain. As she told me, the GOP's plan backfired - it made a Democratic activist where there wasn't one before. Ron Sims, you just picked up a vote.
Now, the King County Democrats wants to be sure folks who have been challenged know they have rights, and how to pursue the issue. If you have been challenged and, by some amazing coincidence, you actually do use a PO box or PMB as a mailing address, contact KCRE at 206-296-8683 to change your registration over the phone - that's it; challenge lifted. However, if you share Ms. Dolan, Taylor and Bushnell's dilemma and you've been cheated, SHOW UP, VOTE, AND GO THROUGH THE PROCESS!
Most importantly in the immediate: The King County Dems need to send a letter to all challenged voters before Tuesday to alert them of their rights and urge them to vote and go through the process. This needs to happen immediately, and will be a little expensive. Since the KC Dems don't have $400,000 on hand to harrass people as the King County GOP does, they could use our help. It's around $725 to get that mailing out today. If you want valid, legally registered voters to know their rights and believe the GOP has cheated, click here for their mailing address and send them a check.
{UPDATE} As I was about to post this, I was alerted to this post at Slog, the Stranger's blog. It seems they challenged every voter registration in an 80 year-old apartment building in Belltown. Some very interesting comments in there - she claimed this personal knowledge under penalty of perjury, so it seems Lori Sotelo, the liar, cheat and bully, can be held accountable for her actions!
