King County Elections Under Fire...
Educate. Advocate. Mitigate. Activate!
This is a follow-up to my Sept 14, 2023, article, Problems with King County Elections Mount...
Summary:
King County is by far the largest populated county in Washington State, the county estimated 2023 population is 2,371,204 with 1,380,823 registered voters.
King County Elections have many serious issues facing them and many questions they need to answer.
#1. The main tabulation server failed during the recent 2023 Primary Election. According to KC Elections officials, this was due to a “database overload” - which forced a slowdown of the server and a new “back-up” server to be installed.
This requires an “emergency” Logic & Accuracy (L & A) test to be done: Per WAC 434-335-330 (4) If, for any reason, changes are made to the ballot counting programming after the official logic and accuracy test, an emergency logic and accuracy test must be conducted pursuant to WAC 434-335-310.
King County Elections never notified the Secretary of State (SoS), or Republican or Democrat election observers, and there were NO election observers present for the emergency L & A test, and so far no proof of the test being done (paperwork submitted, etc.) violating state statutes!
Where is proof of the emergency L & A test per RCW 29.A.12.130 and WACs: 434-335-330, 434-335-310, 434-335-290?
Suspiciously, Public Records Request (PRR) records say the two main security cameras covering the tabulation area were not functioning to show proof of the test.
#2. How can an election be certified if there was never any required-by-law emergency L & A test done with the new server? According to SoS Deputy Director of Elections Stuart Holmes, King County Elections Supervisor, Julie Wise said this test was done…
Tuesday, Sept. 12 King County GOP responded with a press release:
Then earlier today, Sept 20, at a King County Citizen’s Election Oversight Committee meeting, KCGOP Chair, WA State Election Certification Board member and Citizen’s Election Oversight Committee Vice-Chair, Mathew Patrick Thomas, asked Julie Wise about the tabulation server that was replaced in the middle of the Aug 2023 primary, and specifically where is the written report (proof) of the emergency L & A test? Julie Wise refused to answer this question.
During the meeting (video), Julie said King County Elections did a “Mid-Election L & A” Test on July 31- however, as of this writing, NO official paperwork of this test still has been provided to the SoS or anyone else that we know of.
#3. How can Julie Wise continue on as KC Elections Director if she did not do a required by law emergency L & A test and did not provide required proof of paperwork to the SoS or anyone else? Did Julie lie to the SoS about the new required L & A test?
#4. PRR logs show on July 28, 2023, KC Elections switched the primary server to the secondary “back-up” server, but did not do an L & A test.
#5. PRR logs show they may have done a “partial” L & A test July 31 at 7:30 AM (before normal business hours, with no observers notified or present).
OF NOTE: It appears the “partial” test - which was done three days AFTER the new secondary “back-up” server was installed, had all sorts of errors, which may explain why they may not have completed the test, and didn't print the statement of votes cast or do the other required things that they did in the original (official) test on July 6; scanning ballots, etc.
Could this also be the reason KC Elections has not provided any paperwork regarding this test for over seven weeks? We are still waiting on more PRR for 2023…
HERE IS A TIMELINE OF EVENTS: According to testimony of Republican Election Observers and the PRR logs:
July 6, 2023: Normal required by-law L & A test done with the primary (original) server.
July 17, 2023: Republican election observer sees two people looking at server / server issues in the ballot processing room and asks what are they doing? Observer was told there are “problems with the server.” Election observer requests logs via PRR.
July 28, 2023, 11 AM: New secondary (back-up) server installed - Aug. 2023 Primary Election continues - ballots scanned, adjudicated, etc.
July 31, 2023: Possible “partial” L & A test (no scanning of ballots - error messages).
Aug 1, 2023: PRR logs show unusual and strange activity.
Aug 4, 2023, 9 AM: Republican Election Observer sees 6 or 7 Clear Ballot employees at King County Elections looking at server.
Sept. 12, 2023: King County GOP issues a press release.
Sept. 20, 2023 King County Citizen’s Election Oversight Committee (CEOC) meeting Exposing King County Elections Director, Julie Wise.
IMPORTANT: If it was not for the Republican election observer who saw the people working on the primary server July 17, we probably would have never known. Makes one wonder how often other similar issues in violation of state law have happened and are happening that go unnoticed?
Should the 2023 King County Primary Election been certified - was the SoS misled?
TIP OF THE ICEBERG
#6. 2023 PRR logs show King County election officials have been adjudicating ballots, deleting batches of ballots, and re-scanning ballots outside of normal office hours with no notice to election observers and NO ELECTION OBSERVERS PRESENT.
#7. Nov. 2022 general election PRR logs show the same questionable KC election procedures: Working outside normal business hours (which is a very troubling pattern); ELECTION OBSERVERS NOT NOTIFIED OR PRESENT; adjudicating ballots; deleting batches of ballots; and re-scanning ballots.
More specifically, according to data analysts at WhoCountsTheVotes.com, who have studied many of the recent PRR provided by King County Elections:
King County Elections administrators consistently worked outside of office hours, and did NOT inform the political parties as required by RCW 29A.40.100 and WAC 434-261-020. Their office hours are 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, yet they started processing ballots sometimes as early as 7 am and as late as 8 pm, 10 pm, even past midnight in 2022.
IN FACT: PRR log files shows in 2022, over 21% of the activity was outside of normal business hours, again with no notice to observers or observers present, adjudicating, deleting ballots and res canning ballots up until the day before certification, Nov. 28, 2022, where 4,440 ballots were being adjudicated up until midnight.
Logs show they are adjudicating alarming numbers of ballots, all the way up until the day of certification. On 11/28/2022, system logs show there were, 4490 resolved ballots. They went all the way up to midnight that day, adjudicating ballots. That close to certification, we would expect them to have adjudicated these ballots much earlier.
Obviously, this could have a significant impact on the many King County races!
OF SERIOUS CONCERN: 2022 PRR logs show that 49% of deleted batches were outside of normal business hours, apparently much of the time with no observers notified or present. Some of the batches were being deleted / scanned / re-scanned and then adjudicated over a three-week period. Issues include: 4,280 batches scanned, 638 outside of business hours (15%).
OF NOTE: King County Elections heavily redacted many of the PRR logs.
MORE PROBLEMS
#8. Multiple witnesses reported the King County Election website was down and not working properly during many days of the 2023 Primary election: live-steam web cameras were unavailable, election data was not uploading properly, and data sets were not visible. Additionally, it appears a planned site migration was happening during the election, was this by design? This was terrible timing and at a minimum a bad management decision. All of this creates doubt and no confidence in the system.
#9. The King County voter portal is vulnerable to identity theft and is not password protected, with easy access to voter information, (e.g., first name, last name, date of birth, and address). This facilitates voter fraud!
#10. KC Elections, in coordination with the KC Jobs and Housing Program, is mailing notice letters to ALL “registered voters” in the county, asking for updated signatures for county records. The goal is to have an updated signature on file for everyone possible. Sending signature form letters to everyone on the voter rolls, knowing that many of these “registered voters” do not live at the addresses, is an easy way for bad actors to steal voter identities, vote illegal ballots and ultimately steal elections.
#11. King County is one of the 25 counties that were caught illegally deleting election records after the 2020 election. Attorney letter to King County / Article Here
SOLUTIONS: King County Elections Director, Julie Wise, needs to resign from office.
Vote for Doug Basler, who is an election integrity candidate running for Director of King County Elections in the upcoming 2023 November General Election.
The WA SoS needs to do a thorough investigation.
The WA State Auditor’s Office should do a thorough investigation.
Any August 2023 Primary Election Candidate that ran for office should seriously consider contesting their respective election / race.
More on this as the situation unfolds…
Bill Bruch
Bill Bruch is the WA State GOP Election Integrity Chairman, WSRP Executive Board Member, 4-Term Skagit County GOP Chairman, Citizen Journalist, Blogger, Business Owner, “2021 Citizen Activist of the Year” award by the Olympic Conference, 2020 WA State House Representative Candidate, Former Council Member, and WA State 2016 RNC National Convention Delegate.
More Related Source Docs, Links and Articles:
AUDIO PODCAST EP: 118 King County Elections Under Fire
VIDEO: King County Citizens Election Oversight Committee Meeting - 9.20.23
The Jason Rantz Radio Show - Interview of KCGOP Mathew Patrick Thomas
King County Republican Party Demands Accountability and Transparency in Election Process
King County Republican Party Calls For Investigation Into King County Elections
Why King County Elections Policies Foster Corruption and Fraud!
King County - Election Fraud Epicenter in WA
Washington State Sham and Scam Election “Audits” That Are Not Audits
25 Counties in WA Notified of Potential Litigation for Deletion of Elections Records
Problems with King County Elections Mount…
Pennsylvania is GONE in 2024 if this stands