08/30/2022 CLARK COUNTY, WA
In today’s episode of The Biggest Lie, we once again visit Auditor Greg Kimsey’s public statement on Facebook that, in a single paragraph, sums up his entire political platform. In this statement, we can see the mechanics of dishonesty in full view, as likely passed down through talking points and memos from the State level. We’ll always provide you a copy of his statement in its entirety, so nothing in this series can be taken out of context.
Let’s begin.
Sentence number 3.
Kimsey says, “Another test ensures that each voter receives the correct ballot, and that the election system accurately tabulates votes.
Which test is that exactly, Mr. Kimsey? Is it the test that caused you to send 2120 incorrect ballots to Camas voters just last year? Because whatever test you used to certify that each voter
receives the correct ballot, somehow didn’t work. Whatever safeguard system you had in place failed so miserably that 2120 ballots were mailed to voters in 2 Clark County precincts with major errors in them. Sadly, these errors had to be reported by citizens before the Auditor’s office even knew they existed.
Lacamas Magazine reported that Heather Deringer, who lives on Livingston Mountain outside Camas, noted the error immediately.
“When I went to open my ballot, she said, I was surprised to see my Camas School Board candidates were not on the ballot, and instead I had Evergreen School candidates on the ballot,”
Kimsey was quick to respond, “Proofreading that should have happened didn’t happen. We had to adjust precinct boundaries to align with the correct jurisdictions and portions. This allows us to get the correct ballot to the correct voter.
So Greg, was it the proofreading test that failed? Or was it that you failed to adjust the precinct boundaries to align with the correct jurisdictions? Or was it both?
Because one things for sure…
24 year incumbent auditor Greg Kimsey completely and undeniably failed to get the correct ballot to the correct voter in Camas last year. Regardless of whatever test he thinks he has but wont show us. The Proofreading test? Please.
Fast forward to this year’s primary election. Forced to determine a candidate’s eligibility by a lawsuit filed by Clark County’s favorite Republican Carolyn Crain, Kimsey determined that candidate John Ley was qualified to run for election, but then disqualified him from voting at his Battleground address because, according to Kimsey, the Auditor’s authority extended only to Ley’s ability to vote, but not his ability to run.
That struck me as odd when I saw this photo of John Ley holding up his ballot sent to his Battleground address, even though Kimsey had just determined that Ley did not reside there and was unqualified to vote from there. Why did Kimsey send his ballot there anyways? Was that too, another test that failed?
Here’s the Truth.
Greg Kimsey has fallen asleep at the wheel. During a time when we need precise supervision by an unbiased and tech savvy Auditor. The results are how voters keep score. Period.
It literally took a lawsuit from a Clark County Citizen to force Kimsey to do his job correctly. But by that time, the ballots had been printed and the cost to reprint and remail would have been in the hundreds of thousands of wasted taxpayer dollars.
So instead, a judge ordered Kimsey to mail out 54,000 “explanations” to the affected 18th LD voters- to explain his mistake and notify voters that even though John Ley’s name was on the ballot, any votes received for Mr. Ley wouldn’t be counted because Mr. Ley had been disqualified from running.
What a complete disaster.
And after all of that, John Ley still received more than 8,000 votes, and only lost out on advancement to the general election by less than 1%. How many Clark County voters were disenfranchised by a mess like this?
Kimsey’s weak response was notable in this context. Kimsey said he didn’t know what the cost to the county would be at the time of this report, but that:
“It will come out of the Election Reserve Fund and be included in the cost of administering the cost of the August primary,’’.
Does he not know the cost? Or is he so embarrassed over his incompetency that he doesn’t want YOU to know the cost?
Of course regarding the election system accurately tabulating votes? No test for that either. But really. If there was one, do you actually think it would work when his other “tests” have failed so miserably?
So when you hear Kimsey say,
"Another test ensures that each voter receives the correct ballot, and that the election system accurately tabulates votes."
Now you know how simply untrue that statement really is.
