Liars Exposed

King County has been claiming for months now that there is nothing "unusual" about the fact the election officials counted far more ballots that could be accounted for by the number of voters who came to the polls.

A King county councilman pronounces BS upon the tale.


A Metropolitan King County councilman who once served on the county canvassing board is disputing election officials' claim that there is nothing unusual in their inability to figure out who cast 1,800 ballots in the Nov. 2 gubernatorial election.

David Irons, R-Sammamish, said yesterday that in the 2000 general election the discrepancy between the numbers of ballots cast and voters credited with voting was only 17 — far less than the 1,230-vote variance that election officials are citing.

Irons also said there was "no discrepancy" in some special elections he certified along with other members of the canvassing board

But, even if the King County election commission is telling the truth, that truth is even more damning. The previous discrepancies were in the opposite direction. King county always had more voters that ballots cast.

King County Elections Director Dean Logan said Irons had not contacted him to dispute Logan's numbers. He reiterated that the 2004 discrepancy "doesn't seem largely inconsistent" with those of earlier years.

Logan said yesterday the number of voters listed as voting exceeded ballots by 3,067 in the 2001 general election and by 2,809 in 2002.

Having fewer ballots than voters is understandable. A voter can enter the polling place, sign in, receive a ballot, then leave without using the ballot. This is not uncommon when voters are in a hurry and there are lines.

If we accept Logan's numbers as accurate, then we should enlarge the number of excess ballots counted to about 5000.

The Shark has this, and much more.