

The state of Washington switched to a mail-in voting system back in 1993. It has done wonders for voter participation, with 84.61% of registered voters returning their ballot in the 2008 election. Even in mid-term elections, the state of Washington had a 71.24% turnout of registered voters in 2010. In absence of mailing in the ballots, there are numerous drop-boxes placed throughout the state, at libraries, town halls, police stations, etc, and you can turn your ballot in to any of them.

Needless to say, it was very disturbing when this message appeared on the King County Elections website:







It appears that the King County Republican Party is collecting peoples ballots, or at least attempting to. Why would they collect peoples ballots?

Due to the mail-in ballot, traditional GOP tactics such as poll challengers are ineffective. So they have to turn to other tricks. This news has not gone unnoticed:

While the practice is not illegal, it does raise alarms.

With the rise of tactics such as miseducating poll watchers already uncovered, it is not impossible to stretch this idea to cover other, less savory options. An immoral ballot collector takes note of which yards have democratic yard signs. Suddenly, those ballots… vanish.

There is no clear evidence of such tactics as of yet. But in this election cycle, it would be par for the course for it to happen. Are the Republicans so fearful of the future as their attacks on minorities and women turn into huge anchors around their necks. The future is bleak for the Republican party. Unless they steal this election, they will be forced to actually evolve their platform.

And we all know how much they love evolution.