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For Immediate Release: Contact: Attorney Knoll Lowney
(206) 650-1044
Local and national experts and petitioners available on request
LAWSUIT FILED TODAY AGAINST WASHINGTON SECRETARY OF STATE:
CLAIMS ONE MILLION VOTERS DEPRIVED OF
CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO A SECRET BALLOT
Lawsuit seeks injunctive relief from State Supreme Court
(SEATTLE and ORCAS IS., 14 July 2009) – This morning, four Washington
voters and a local political party sued Washington’s chief elections
officer, seeking to prohibit placement of unique bar code identifiers
on ballots.
The suit alleges that actions of Secretary of State Sam Reed required
approximately one million voters to vote on ballots that contained
unique bar code identifiers, in violation of the State
Constitution’s guarantee of “absolute secrecy” of the ballot and
statutes requiring uniform ballots within a precinct. The suit also
claims that Reed has encouraged and subsidized an uncertified ballot
tracking “audit” system that links the ballot identifiers to
voters’ identities, further undermining ballot secrecy by
potentially permitting vendors and officials to inspect how a citizen
voted.
Information about the case, including a list of Washington counties
employing the challenged procedures, can be found at http://smithandlowney.com/secretballot.
The petitioners filed White v. Reed directly in the State Supreme
Court using an unusual judicial procedure for fast-track adjudication
by the High Court. According to the petition, Reed’s actions have
led to the introduction and proliferation of ballot IDs in most
Washington counties by activating an option of the Hart Intercivic
voting system. Reed also has encouraged and subsidized many counties
to deploy the VoteHere ballot tracking system which links the unique
ballot ID with the voter’s ID. Petitioners claim that these systems
are not necessary for election auditing or security. Seattle’s King
County prohibited ballot identifiers after finding that voters
perceived the identifiers as compromising ballot secrecy.
Hart and the VoteHere vendor are aggressively marketing the systems
across the country for both poll site voting and absentee mail voting.
Washington State requires paper ballots, and votes almost entirely by
mail.
Seattle public interest attorney Knoll Lowney represents the four voters
and the Green Party of San Juan County, where the offending systems
were first deployed. According to Lowney, “Reed’s actions have
violated the constitutional rights of one million Washington voters
just because of where they live. In King County, where I vote, there
are no unique bar codes on my ballot and I am certain of the secrecy
of my ballot. Every voter in our state deserves the same
confidence.”
A statement supporting the case was released by the national public
interest organization, Voter Action, which has participated in
lawsuits throughout the country involving election integrity concerns.
The statement can be accessed at www.VoterAction.org.
Petitioner Tim White said, “An absolutely secret ballot means
your blank ballot is exactly like your neighbor’s. Nobody can
reconnect it to your hand. Secretary Reed’s new system permits just
that. He subsidized this system with a no-bid contract with VoteHere,
a corporation led by Reed’s mentor Ralph Munro and past heads of the
Pentagon and the CIA. Voters should not have to trust this or any private
company to maintain ballot secrecy.”
Says Petitioner Allan Rosato, “Few voters realize that the bar code
they see is unique to their ballot, and in many cases linked
with their voter ID. When they learn this, they are very concerned.
Our Constitution and statutes do not allow this experiment with ballot
secrecy. It certainly is not necessary since two-thirds of Washington
voters are not subject to it.”
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