La Center resident Darlene Kulla shares her insight into what she said resulted unfair election of Adrian Cortes in 18th District Senate race
Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the author alone and do not reflect the editorial position of ClarkCountyToday.com
I have personally been working on the voter roll clean-up effort and have seen clear cases of voter fraud, as well as negligence on the part of the Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey. Our voter rolls are dirty and dirty voter rolls mean dirty elections. We have tried to work with Greg Kimsey, but he refuses to work with us, forcing us to settle this dispute in court. This is the only way to hold our elected officials accountable. Below is a message from WAGOP:
“Democrats currently hold a supermajority in the Washington State Legislature and can operate without any checks or balances whatsoever. This is the first time this has occurred in over a decade. And it only happened by 173 votes out of almost 90,000 cast in the 18th Legislative District, located in Southwest Washington.
Washington is an all vote-by-mail State. So, the question is, what happens to someone’s voter registration when they move? County auditors are supposed to regularly obtain National Change of Address (NCOA) information given to the United State Postal Service (USPS) by voters when they move and change their mailing address. Subsequently, they are supposed to use this information to clean the voter rolls. In practice, many do not – and in particular Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey does not and has not, to the extent that he counted hundreds of ballots in the 18th Legislative District cast by voters who had previously reported moving out of the district.
The number of votes cast by voters who had previously reported moving out of the 18th Senate race far exceeded the 173 votes that decided the race. Despite this, the election was certified. The Washington State Republican Party has filed a lawsuit to decertify this election and hold a new one, with clean voter rolls, so we can be confident in the election outcome and the decisions our legislators make on our behalf. Go to “wagop.org/support-election-integrity/” to learn more and how you can help.”
During our time canvassing and curing ballots, we encountered several individuals who reported not receiving a ballot and stated they did not vote, yet records indicated they had voted. This raises the question: “Who voted on their behalf?” Without the ability to identify who cast these votes, we could not report potential fraud. We also submitted several voter challenges (affidavits) to the elections office, but Greg Kimsey still did not remove these individuals from the voter rolls despite the evidence. Kimsey stated that “clear and convincing evidence” of a move is required. He cited the possibility of family disputes leading to false claims as a concern. Really? Now are we more concerned about taking people off from the voting rolls because of some hypothetical family argument when they clearly moved several years ago than we are having non-residents on the voting rolls?
It is my opinion that Greg Kimsey does not want to serve the people of Clark County any longer and will need to be replaced very soon. He does not have the peoples’ best interest in mind.
It is critical that we clean up the dirty voter rolls in Clark County as well as in all of Washington State. We need to be able to trust that our elections are fair and who “We the people” have voted for.
Please join us for the court hearing, Thursday, March 13 at 11 a.m.
Clark County Superior Court
1200 Franklin Street
Vancouver, WA 98660
Darlene Kulla
La Center
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Thank you for this heads up.
Public records show that you filed challenges against 14 separate voters. Of those:
–Eight had already been cancelled or made inactive prior to the hearing (in other words, the system correctly removed them without your “help”).
–Two actively confirmed their registration in response to your challenge. Fortunately, your actions did not disenfranchise them.
That left a total of four potential challenges that rightly be subject to further review. Fortunately, all of your challenge forms are published online, so we can check them out for ourselves. Three critical problems are immediately apparent:
First, you did not follow the directions for a challenge as laid out in Washington State Law (specifically, RCW 29A.08.810-850). Your own documents suggest that two of the four remaining challenged voters still live in Clark County. The challenge instructions clearly require that you send a return-service letter “to all known addresses” for the voter, which you failed to do, despite your own evidence showing that they still live here.
Second, your understanding of what constitutes valid evidence is apparently quite poor. The second two of those four claims are accompanied by an affidavit indicating that you spoke with (I wish I were making this up), “someone.” It should surprise absolutely nobody that “someone” cannot possibly serve as a credible witness for a sworn declaration – especially not one that would serve to disenfranchise a person.
Third, it is clear that your basic research skills are severely flawed. For example, at least one of your challenged voters is, in fact, the listed owner of the property at their registered address per Clark County GIS – despite your report to the contrary in your sworn challenge.
In summary, based on the documents that you yourself submitted, Mr. Kimsey appears to have been acting appropriately and in a manner entirely consistent with Washington State law in dismissing your challenges. Your failure to follow directions, to submit affidavits with actual witnesses, or to meaningfully verify your own “research” in no way impeaches his character or performance. If anything, they bring your own motives and character into question.
“We the people” would appreciate it if you and the WAGOP could stop insulting our duly elected public servants without cause, undermining trust in our public institutions with deceptive claims, and wasting our taxpayer dollars on spurious lawsuits.
There are clear reasons why Greg Kimsey typically runs unopposed in elections for county auditor. His record of accuracy, openness, fairness and integrity is immaculate. WAGOP, apparently lacking any real accomplishments to spend its time on, needs to find another windmill to assail.
Great thought out and well researched reply.
There are clear reasons why Greg Kimsey typically runs unopposed in elections for county auditor. His record of accuracy, openness, fairness and integrity is immaculate. WAGOP, apparently lacking any real accomplishments to spend its time on, needs to find another windmill to assail. (Full disclosure: I no longer reside in Clark County, much to my chagrin.)
I personally know Darlene Kulla and I have to say that Darlene volunteered hundreds of hours in an attempt to have Election Integrity and all this volunteer time with a busy family and grandchildren because, she cares that much about our Clark County Elections! Thank you, Darlene, for this well written article! You amaze me.
Myrna
Perhaps Darlene’s time would be better used actually doing through research and following directions according to the law before writing inflammatory letters like the one above.
Being “nice” doesn’t mean being correct, Myrna Leija. Quite wasting my money on poorly researched crap.
Darlene Kulla wrote an excellent letter. I don’t trust, Greg Kimsey. He ran an unopposed election, because people are too lazy, don’t care, feel their vote doesn’t count, they read about corruption going on and nothing is done about it, don’t have the finances to go against him in an election, and being dumbed down from fluoride and all the other poisons we are breathing, eating and ingesting. Time for Kimsey to be replaced if he feels his job duties are too much for him to follow. Ignoring his duties to clean up the voter rolls make him incompetent. I hope to go to watch this lawsuit play out in court. Put Thursday March 13 on your calendar!
I have video on Election Day of Greg Kimsey asking Me to leave the voting line with My Make America Great Again hat. He offered Me an all new Ballot if I’d take it and vote elsewhere !!! He also spread PROPAGANDA with a tax paid POSTER that stated
RCW 29A.84.510 which he deemed NO HATS such as My MAGA hat !!! Now that We have a ‘new’ FBI – I plan to file a ELECTION INTERFERENCE COMPLAINT.
Kimberlee Goheen Elbon
It’s not election interference. Turns out you don’t need to wear a hat to be able to vote, Kimberlee.
RCW 29A.84.510 is not “propaganda” – it’s the law of the State of Washington. Specifically, the section of the law that prohibits anyone who would:
“Suggest or persuade or attempt to suggest or persuade any voter to vote for or against any candidate or ballot measure”
Whether it be hats, t-shirts, signs, or megaphones – no political activities are allowed within 100 feet of a polling place or 25 feet of a drop box. The law applies to everyone equally and we are all bound by it – even you.
Once again Forthright Ranconteur, you have nailed it with your clear, concise, logical answer. My hat is off to you!