New examples emerge of disenfranchised Rossi voters - If we can't change the rules for our military and others, why should we change the rules for Gregoire's King Co friends?

News Release

12/23/04

Bellevue, WA- Tyler Farmer is a Marine from Snohomish County serving in Iraq. He was wounded in the Battle of Fallujah. He recently won "Marine of the Quarter."

But there's one other distinction Tyler would rather not have: He's a disenfranchised voter who would have voted for Dino Rossi, but he received his ballot too late.

Tyler joins a growing list of 260-plus legal voters who support Dino Rossi but were disenfranchised because their ballots came too late or never arrived at all, or their ballots were rejected.

Tyler's father, Charles Farmer, says that Tyler has recovered from his wounds and is 'back in action,' but is not happy that he wasn't able to vote. Charles noted that Tyler took extra care to make sure he would receive his ballot, having his father check with the county auditor in June, August and September to make sure his ballot would be sent in time. Yet Election Day came and went and no ballot. It finally arrived on Nov. 3, the day after the election, too late to count.

My son will not get his vote counted, and he's risking his life for his country,'says Charles. 'He wanted to vote.'

Tyler told his father that two of his Marine buddies, who are registered to vote in Lake Stevens, also did not receive their ballots until Nov. 3 and thus were unable to vote.

Governor-elect Dino Rossi's office has heard other examples of members of the military who were disenfranchised. Tyler William Smith is a registered King County voter who serves in the Navy; he received his absentee ballot overseas and mailed it in two weeks before the election. When his mother, Clary Smith, called King County, to verify that his ballot was counted, King County had no record of it at all.

Another member of the military, Lesley Steinbach, serves in the Army and is registered in Thurston County. She filled out paperwork to receive her absentee ballot in New Orleans, where she is stationed. But she never received it, nor was a ballot mailed to her parents'home in Thurston County, as her ballots had been for the past four years.

Steven Sirianni writes that his brother who is serving in Iraq didn't receive his ballot until after the election. So much for the integrity of the voting system,'his brother wrote.

Edna Chambers of Tacoma reports that neither her grandson, Robert Chambers, nor the members of his platoon in the Stryker Brigade in Iraq received their ballots or got them on time.

Additionally, Republicans have collected signatures from 262 Rossi voters across Washington whose ballots didn't count because of signature-matching problems.

Christine Gregoire's mantra of 'Count every vote'only applies to people who voted for her. She doesn't want the disenfranchised military ballots to be counted because she knows they trend overwhelmingly Republican,'said Rossi spokeswoman Mary Lane.

If we can't change the rules for the members of our Armed Forces and others who were disenfranchised, why should we change the rules for a select group of heavily Democratic voters in King County?'

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Note: If you would like contact information for the people cited in this news release, please contact Mary Lane at (425) 646-7202.

Actions you can take:

1. If you sense anything amiss in the past election -(did not receive your ballot in the mail, had your ballot rejected, etc.) please contact the Rossi campaign. You can contact them at: 425-646-7202 or at tom@dinorossi.com or info@dinorossi.com .

We have stories of people who did not receive their ballot, went to the court house to vote and found that someone had voted on their ballot. Another lady was told that her signature did not match the signature on file - and she said she had not voted.

Please forward any stories or events that you know are valid/first hand to the Rossi campaign. In addition, if you know of any Rossi voter who had his/her ballot rejected, we need to get them to sign legal papers so we can submit them to the auditors office immediately. Contact Rossi office.