SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
Dori: Can Seattle Marxists print your Election Day ballot?
Nov 2, 2021, 9:47 PM | Updated: Nov 3, 2021, 5:36 am

(AP)
(AP)
Is it possible that Seattle Marxists can print an election day ballot? Yup.
And it鈥檚 all legal.
That鈥檚 right. When listeners started sending The Dori Monson Show tips about activists in downtown Seattle waving hand-written signs that read, 鈥淟ost your ballot? We鈥檒l print one for you,鈥 it seemed impossible.
But our team has confirmed that activists from the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America 鈥 the party of Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant and council candidate Nikkita Oliver — are indeed behind this.
Very suspicious for a campaign to be doing this.
— Katie Daviscourt馃嚭馃嚫 (@KatieDaviscourt)
Gone are the days of arriving in-person, at your local precinct, to sign your name and verify your one-and-only ballot before casting your vote. It was new, but mail-in voting came under fire in the days after Washington state鈥檚 2004 gubernatorial election. When that outcome shifted from initial winner Republican Dino Rossi to Democrat Christine Gregoire 鈥 and then involved recounts and more recounts — election trust in this region bottomed out.
So what鈥檚 to stop today鈥檚 activists from further damaging confidence by visiting every vagrant encampment in the city for ballot harvesting? Dori wants to know.
To nail down whether Tuesday鈥檚 Marxist movement to help people who 鈥渉appened to lose their ballot鈥 鈥 and whether this is a violation of local or state election laws — Dori spoke with Washington’s Secretary of State, Kim Wyman. Here鈥檚 what she had to say:
In a nutshell, Wyman says, the state has created safeguards and tightened up any cracks in the system that would allow voters to cast more than one ballot while also preventing counterfeit ballots.
鈥淭he optics鈥 of printing last-minute election day ballots, 鈥渋f nothing else, are very bad,鈥 Wyman said. 鈥淏ut then, I have full confidence in the security measures on the back end.鈥
Even after 2004鈥檚 scrambled state gubernatorial debacle, Dori remains skeptical.
鈥淚 think there is way too much margin for error. … We have to get some faith back and a lot of Americans don鈥檛 have faith in the election system as it currently stands,鈥 he said.
鈥淥h, I thoroughly agree with you, Dori, and that actually worries me a great deal,鈥 Wyman replied. 鈥淲e鈥檝e worked hard in this state to restore the confidence that people lost in 2004.鈥
Dori鈥檚 interview ended on good terms with Wyman, but his suspicions remain: 鈥淚 wish there was a way to track Tuesday ballots collected by this local Marxist organization.鈥
On this, we will all need to stay tuned.
Listen to the Dori Monson Show weekday afternoons from noon 鈥 3 p.m. on 成人X站 Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the聽podcast here.