Seattle, Washington FBI Bureau File - Paperless Archives

1 C. Voter Registration Application (Card) Issues
2 It was determined that the above-mentioned box contained 1805 Cards, although
the ACORN form completed by Debwa and submitted with the box indicated that
3 the box contained 1157 Cards.
4 From the beginning, there were issues surrounding whether the Cards would be
accepted and processed by REALS. First, the Cards were submitted after the
5 deadline. Second, initial review of the Cards showed that there were issues
surrounding their validity. For example, some Cards were missing statutorily
6 required items like a signature. Also, after examination it appeared that
the handwriting on many of the cards was similar.
7
There were discussions regarding these issues among REALS staff, the King
8 County Prosecuting Attorney's Office (KCPAO) and Secretary of State, and it
was decided that the Cards would be added to the voter registration database
9 (VRDB) and monitored.
10 Also during this time, a lawsuit regarding these issues was filed and
subsequently a federal judge decided that these Cards would be processed and
11 added to the VRDB.
12 D. Card Verification Process in Washington-Background
13 When a voter registration application form (Card) is completed it can be
mailed or delivered in-person to a site that accepts Cards (i.e., REALS
14 office). If the form is mailed, it automatically is sent to the Elections
Division of the Secretary of State's office. The Elections Division will
15 then forward the form to the appropriate county. The Elections Division does
not maintain records. Instead, the Elections Division administers the
16 database (the VRDB) that is used by the state and all counties in Washington.
17 In essence, the VRDB is a list of registered voters in the state of
Washington. It can be accessed by Elections Division staff· and county
18 election staff. Data can be entered, updated, changed and deleted by these
staff persons.
19
When a Card is received, whether by the state or a county, a "duplicate
20 check" is first done. This means a check is done to see if the voter listed
on the Card is already registered to vote. This ensures that a duplicate
21 registration is not entered into the VRBD.
22 New Cards are also received for people that are already registered to vote
for a variety of reasons. For example, a person may have moved and is
23 sending in a new Card because of this. If this is the case, a check in the
VRDB would let the staff person know that the person is already a registered
24 voter, but that the person has moved and the information needs to be updated
25
Certification for Determination
of Probable Cause
Norm Maleng
Prosecuting Attorney
W 554 King County Courthouse
Seattle, Washington 98104-2312
(206) 296-9000