Patricia Petosa-Audette minces no words about her political beliefs.
“I think they ought to take our current president and drop him from a bridge,” the 78-year-old Edmonds woman says.
Her daughter held the same anti-Republican sentiments and, according to voting rolls, cast a ballot in the November election.
There’s just one problem.
“She’s been gone two years,” Petosa-Audette said.
Her daughter, Patricia Raymond, died in November 2003 of complications caused by diabetes at age 53.
She is one of four deceased Snohomish County residents who, according to Republicans, are listed as having voted in the governor’s race Nov. 2.
“It’s just ridiculous,” said Karen Burke of Lynnwood, whose husband, Larry, died of cancer at age 61 a decade ago but is among those listed as voting. “He does still get mail, but not a ballot. I was just really dumbfounded.”
Republican volunteers have been searching for bogus votes as part of their challenge of Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire’s third-round win over Republican Dino Rossi. Gregoire won by 129 votes out of nearly 2.9 million cast after Rossi won on election night and also won the first recount.
Statewide, Republicans say they have found 45 names of supposed voters who are dead. They also flagged 1,135 names of people they identify as felons who voted illegally.
“In an election this close, 45 is still a significant number,” said Mary Lane, communications director for the Rossi campaign.
Snohomish County elections manager Carolyn Diepenbrock said she couldn’t confirm Republican claims because the poll books are now sealed.
This is the first time the issue has been raised, she said. “So is it normal? I don’t know. Can it occur? Yes.”
The elections office learns about deaths through a number of ways, including notification-of-death cards made available to families at polling locations. But it’s an imperfect process, and at times a person’s name can remain on the rolls of registered voters long after they have died.
How do they end up listed as voters? There are several possibilities, Diepenbrock said.
Someone could have signed on the wrong line at a polling location, a fairly easy mistake because books are presented with the names upside down.
With absentee voting, a family member could have picked up and signed the wrong envelope by mistake. “That kind of thing happens all the time,” Diepenbrock said.
As for fraud, Diepenbrock said it that unlikely because workers check the signatures.
“When any process has as much human interaction as the voting election process does, errors like that are going to occur,” she said.
Regardless, families of the deceased are concerned.
William Stroupe expressed frustration over the political wrangling that has claimed his wife’s name. Martha Stroupe died last April at age 71 from a number of medical complications.
“It’s just ridiculous,” he said. “It’s wrong.”
Gary Ware said his family received an absentee ballot for his wife, Beverly, who died of cancer in February 2004 at age 65. “My daughter … put it in the recycle bin. That’s the last we’ve seen of it.”
The family are die-hard Democrats, Ware said. But this is one election he would like to leave behind.
“We’d all like that, I’m sure,” he said.
Reporter Melissa Slager: 425-339-3465 or mslager@ heraldnet.com.
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