FreedomWorks Washington Teams Up on Election Reform Initiative

Washington Freedom Works is joining forces with the Evergreen Freedom Foundation’s Grassroots Washington in the attempt to restore integrity to our election process.

The first step in this critical process is to attend the Governor’s Task Force on Elections meetings being chaired by Secretary of State Sam Reed. The meetings will be held throughout the state and we need activists to attend and testify in favor of needed reforms.

Please check the schedule below for meetings in your area.

Vancouver — 6:30 – 8:30 pm Thursday, Feb 10, at Clark College Foster Auditorium.

Des Moines — 6 – 8 pm Monday, Feb. 14, at Highline Community College Student Union Building.

Pasco — 6 – 8 pm Wednesday, Feb. 16, at the Columbia Basin College Student Union Building.

Spokane — 6 – 8 pm Tuesday, Feb. 22 – Spokane Community College Lair Student Center.

The Evergreen Freedom Foundation and FreedomWorks will have representatives at these meetings with sample talking points and issue papers. The main message is outlined below:

Free and fair elections are indispensable to our political freedom. The sanctity of the ballot must be secure to ensure legitimate elections and maintain public confidence on our voting system. In order to accomplish this we need to enact the following:

1. 100% new voter registration requiring citizens to show proof of citizenship, a birth certificate, and use their legal names.
2. Require citizens to show a photo and signature identification prior to voting.
3. Force election officials at the state and local level to implement federal and state changes made in 2002-2003

The current list of registered voters is inaccurate. There is documented evidence of irregularity, fraud and abuse in the registration system and the only way to clean the rolls is to start anew. With new registration we could ensure that only qualified citizens are eligible to vote and that their votes could be accurately counted.

The public does not have confidence in the current system. Three months after the November general election, only 11% of all voters believe the 2004 election was well-run and Christine Gregoire is the legitimate Governor. These are findings from a statewide survey conducted January 30-31, 2005 by Moore Information Inc., among a representative sample of 500 voters statewide. The sampling error is plus or minus 4%.

County by county research shows that current laws and regulations were applied unevenly. The election process should treat every voter in every area of the state the same. Each county must adhere to the same standards as set forth by congress, the state legislature and the Secretary of State.

For more information or to volunteer for the Voter Integrity Project, log onto http://www.effwa.org/vip.php or contact WA FreedomWorks Director Jamie Daniels at 1.877.257.9156; jdaniels@freedomworks.org.