Problems with King County Elections Mount...
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This is a follow-up to my July 20, 2023, article, Why King County Elections Policies Foster Corruption and Fraud, exposing policy ripe for corruption by sending “signature form letters” to everyone possible 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.
Now we are finding the King County Elections tabulation server failed during the 2023 August Primary Election. According to the elections office, this was due to a “database overload” - which forced a new “back-up” server to be installed. This required a new “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.
Problem being, King County Elections never notified the Secretary of State, Republican or Democrat election observers, or the King County Citizens’ Elections Oversight Committee of the required test. And if there was an emergency L & A test, there were NO election observers present for the test, and no proof of the test ever being done (paperwork submitted) to the SoS, etc. This violates state statutes!
To make matters worse, suspiciously, PRR records say the security cameras covering the tabulation area were not functioning. Yes, zero election observer witnesses, nor video evidence of any new (required by law) L & A test. Hmm…
So, how do we know a new L & A test was actually done? We don’t.
Where is proof of the new L & A test per RCW 29.A.12.130 and WACs: 434-335-330, 434-335-310, 434-335-290?
And how can an election be certified if there was never any required by law emergency L & A test done on the new server???
Tuesday, King County GOP responded with a press release:
King County Republican Party Demands Accountability and Transparency in Election Process
SEPT. 12, 2023, BELLEVUE, WA – The King County Republican Party (KCGOP) is deeply troubled by recent developments that have raised serious concerns about transparency and the integrity of our electoral process.
During the recent Primary Election, a significant event unfolded - the replacement of the primary tabulation server, the central component of the election process. This replacement necessitated a Logic and Accuracy Test (L&A Test) to certify the server as compliant to conduct elections in Washington State. Astonishingly, the KCGOP was not notified of this server replacement or the subsequent required L&A Test. Such a failure to inform and involve political parties directly violates the essence of WAC 434-335-330 and WAC 434-335-310, which mandate the notification of political parties and their participation in these critical tests to safeguard election integrity, in accordance with RCW 29.A.12.130.
Compounding these concerns, our public records request revealed that the security camera meant to capture the L&A Test was not operational on the day of the test. The absence of video documentation during a pivotal phase of the electoral process amplifies our apprehensions regarding transparency, accountability, and adherence to the law.
While we appreciate Director Wise's response from the King County Elections Office to our letter outlining our concerns, the proposed changes for future elections fall short of addressing the procedural breakdown and lack of compliance with state laws that have occurred. A mere apology does not suffice when the trust in our elections is on the line.
KCGOP Chairman Mathew Patrick Thomas declared, "This isn't merely a procedural lapse; it represents a breach of public trust. Our electoral process is the bedrock of our democracy, and any actions undermining its transparency and integrity must be swiftly and decisively rectified."
We demand a thorough and transparent investigation into the incident, along with a rigorous examination of King County Elections to determine any and all violations of state laws and regulations. Immediate steps must be taken to rectify these issues and reassure the public that the upcoming General 2023 Election will be conducted with unwavering compliance with all legal requirements.
The KCGOP remains vigilant in its commitment to ensuring fair, legal, and transparent elections. We expect nothing less from those entrusted with administering them.
_______________________________________________________________________
BUT WAIT, IT GETS MUCH WORSE! PRR of 2023 log files are showing that 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.
OF NOTE: IN VIOLATION OF STATE LAW - King County PRR log files for the November 2022 general election also showed the same questionable election procedures: Working outside normal business hours; ELECTION OBSERVERS NOT NOTIFIED OR PRESENT; adjudicating ballots; deleting batches of ballots; and re-scanning ballots. Hmm…
More specifically, according to data analysts at WhoCountsTheVotes.com, who have studied 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.
2022 Activity according to logs by the day
Excessive Adjudication
Not only that, but 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.
We are still waiting for additional 2023 records / numbers via PRR for quality control.
According to King County communications received through PRR, the county uses Clear Ballot Voting Systems, and was also considering going back to the ClearVote 2.1 software they used in 2020 and 2022. This is the same system that the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) DID NOT EVER CERTIFY, and the same system that had known problems with its software. This is troubling because, an election observer happened to witness 6 or 7 Clear Ballot employees during the recent primary election, on-site in the King County elections offices the morning of August 4, 2023.
MORE PROBLEMS
Multiple witnesses are reporting that the King County Election website was down and not working properly during many days of the August 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.
During the November 2022 election, one of the two King County Elections high speed scanners was having major malfunctions to the point where it rejected and / or jammed literally thousands of ballots, as witnessed by election observers. The issue forced election officials to take the scanner off-line for the duration of the election.
Also, the King County voter portal is vulnerable to identity theft and is not password protected, with easy access to the voter’s information, first name, last name, date of birth, and address.
OF NOTE: King County is also one of the 25 counties that were caught deleting election records after the 2020 election. Attorney letter to King County / Article Here
To learn more info about the many King County Election issues and what we can do about it, come out to see Captain Seth Keshel who will be in WA State and speaking at a campaign fundraiser for Doug Basler, who is running for Director of King County Elections. The event will be this Sunday, Sept 17 at the Black Diamonds Gardens between 4:30 PM - 6:30 PM. GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Semi Bird will also be speaking. More Info See: DougBasler.com
As a reminder, Seth Keshel has gone on the record saying, "Washington State had the most fraudulent election of 2020 - per elector. With 590,000 excess votes spread over 12 electors, that comes out to 49,000+ fraudulent votes per elector. My numbers show DJT within 6 points.” — Top 5 Dirtiest States by Excess Votes per Elector: 1. Washington – 49,176; 2. Hawaii – 37,033; 3. Oregon – 37,029; 4. Michigan – 36,005; 5. New Jersey – 35,944. Article
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: 117 Problems With King County Elections Mount…
The Jason Rantz Radio Show - Interview of KCGOP Chair 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