By Sue Durek-Keller
September, 2005
Political Action Committee at Microsoft (MSPAC) held an Election Observer Training on 9/13/05; this event was advertised as non-partisan. It was hosted by the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, an anti-government enterprise based in Olympia, with Mike Seigel, a right-wing talk-show host as a keynote speaker.
Toby Nixon, the Republican Representative from the 45th District introduced himself as a proud member of 'CLAM', Conservative and Libertarians at Microsoft. Also presenting was the attorney who represented Rossi in the Governor's challenge, another attorney with the Evergreen Freedom Foundation and Maria Seals, the Republican Party Election Observer Contact.
Thanks go to David Campbell, one of our 45th District Democrat members who received the advertisement for this event and challenged the Government Affairs coordinator at Microsoft on the non-partisan designation since all speakers invited were right-leaning advocates for the Bush administration and the GOP.
The MSPAC Representative subsequently offered David an invitation to invite a Progressive. When opening the session, Toby Nixon assured the 30 or so, mostly male audience that he was certain that there was bi-partisan representation present but given the nonpartisan commitment, no one would be asked their political persuasion.
From the ensuing dialogue, I would estimate the ratio of D:R/L at 1:26 with some seemingly impartial poll workers present. The dialogue and the presentations were clearly framed to represent the view that King County elections are corrupt and it's up to the Evergreen Freedom Foundation and other patriotic individuals to right this wrong. The EFF claims to want to restore integrity to the voting process in WA State, but only plans on scrutinizing 2, democrat-leaning counties.
When I challenged the speakers about applying a force or scrutiny to only two of the thirty-nine counties, they claimed money limited their scope. Given that the ruling by Judge Bridges in Governor's challenge found no evidence of fraud, one would find roughly proportional problems across the state and that would require a statewide approach to addressing these problems. The speakers were challenged to ensure statewide voter integrity by seeking solutions that would be applied statewide. But it was clear to me that integrity is the smoke-screen that these individuals hide behind. Who can question those who seek integrity? In reality, their motives appear to be to discredit counties where voters are largely democrats and leave doubt about the credibility of the outcomes in these regions. This results in further divisions between the rural and the urban and gives the impression that they are fighting for the rural, largely republican base. It gives this group a platform to gain media attention. It does not bring integrity to the democratic process of voting.
Beyond the false premise of the MSPAC program and the disingenuous bi-partisan banner, there were several other issues that concerned me. The Evergreen Freedom Foundation has established 2 'very separate, non-profit, tax-exempt' projects: The Voter Integrity and Grassroots Washington. The stated purpose of these organizations is to 'help restore the free and fair elections', are said to be about 'research and investigation', purports to advocate for an 'election process (that) treats every voter in every precinct the same' and claims that 'we are completing a thorough investigation of the 2004 election and will monitor the 2006 election'. Individuals donating to these organizations can claim these contributions on their tax returns. As Democrats we need to begin to look into organizations such as this and the legality of this tax-exempt status.
Still, the biggest issue that concerned me though has to do with a recent Federal Law, which they cited, that allows military personnel to vote in the State they DEPLOY from without having to register to vote. The voting will be assisted via internet and other means. THERE WILL BE NO CHECKS TO SEE IF THAT PERSON HAS ALSO VOTED IN THEIR HOME STATE VIA ABSENTEE BALLOT. They really want 'to get the word out about this'. When I restated our shared concern for the integrity of the vote and how this group really wanted to make sure the vote was accurate and checked against felon databases, immigrant databases etc, that it would stand to reason that they would also want to ensure that there was no duplication of this vote. Later, talking with Toby Nixon, he claimed that it came down from the Feds and therefore the state legislators couldn't do anything about it. Can anyone tell me why someone would need to vote in the state they deploy from, without having registered, and not from the state the claim as residence?
Things we need to do as 45th District Democrats. We need to attend forums such as these being offered or alert other members of the 45th of these venues. In our most professional way, we need to speak our truth. If you are so inclined to write a letter to the editor, join the Letter to the Editor Group. Know your values and vote with them and that means challenging the reelection of Toby Nixon who speaks moderation and bipartisanship when he needs to step in front of his constituents, a moderate to progressive group collectively, but when he's with his people shows his natural inclination and it is not progressive or moderate. We need a real candidate willing to step-up who will represent the values of this district. Who when they speak of integrity understands what that means and applies scientific standards to achieve the end-result.