King County Challenges 99 Felons On Voter List

Associated Press   March 9, 2005

SEATTLE King County is challenging the voter registrations of 99 convicted felons believed to have voted illegally in last November's election, Prosecutor Norm Maleng said.

The prosecutor's office found the questionable voters on a list of 105 individuals supplied by The Seattle Times.

At a news conference Tuesday, Maleng said that four of the 105 people on that list were convicts who had their voting rights restored.

Prosecutors are trying to determine if one voter with a misdemeanor conviction in King County also had a felony conviction in California. Another voter on the list was a father whose son had been convicted of a felony.

Maleng said his office also is investigating a second list of questionable voters one with more than 1,100 names provided last week by the state Republican Party, some of which were on The Times' list.

Maleng said his office will determine within the next few weeks if any more voters should be removed from the registration list.

"I have asked the experienced administrative staff in my criminal division to conduct these records searches as a priority matter, and many are staying late and coming in weekends to complete the task," he said.

Maleng said the county will forward its findings from the investigation of the GOP list to the Chelan County Superior Court judge assigned to the Republicans' lawsuit challenging Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire's narrow victory.

"It's about time some official with King County actually took some step to actually enforce the law," GOP chairman Chris Vance said, suggesting the county did not do enough to prevent mistakes from calling the results of the election into question.

King County Executive Ron Sims, who ran against Gregoire for the Democratic nomination in last fall's primary, noted that the county removed 600 felons from its voter registration rolls before the November election.

"This is an issue of public concern that we take very seriously," Sims said.

Letters have been sent to the 99 voters whose registrations are being challenged. They have until the end of next week to show that they have a legal right to vote. They may ask to speak at a hearing on March 18 or submit affidavits stating the reasons they believe the challenge to their voting rights is not valid.

Under state law, felons who have served their sentences and paid any fines must apply to regain their voting rights.

Maleng said his office's findings regarding the 99 felons could potentially end up in criminal court, but that it's unclear whether any of the felon voters knew they were breaking the law when they registered to vote.

They can be removed from voter registration rolls, but in order to be charged with illegally voting, state law requires that they knew it was illegal to do so.

Maleng said he knows of no previous cases of felons convicted of voting illegally.

When asked how such felons made it onto the voter rolls, Maleng spoke of the complicated way each county keeps track of who can legally vote. They depend on the courts to each year supply lists of the thousands of people who have been convicted of felonies.

But when felons serve their prison time and pay their fines, the Department of Corrections does not send counties notes reminding elections departments that those convicts can't reregister unless they've applied to have their voting rights restored.

"I don't think most of the people affected by serious felony convictions are aware of what is required to reinstate their voting rights," said Dan Satterberg, chief of staff in the prosecutor's office.

People on probation are required to sign a form saying they know they cannot legally own a firearm, but there is no felon education concerning voting, Satterberg said.

Maleng said it will be easier to keep track of who is not allowed to vote when the state establishes a statewide voter registration procedure instead of requiring each county to handle it. Then, he said, statewide voter lists could be compared with statewide conviction lists and lists of people getting out of state prisons, therefore eliminating many of these problems.

Vance agreed that a statewide tracking system will help. "But the main thing is changing the attitude of county prosecutors and county auditors," he said. "They have to take this stuff seriously, and they have not."