The official results for the 2006 East Side Highway District Election show that 2,070 people voted. The official database from the County Elections Office show that over 12,000 people voted. Even so, there are people in Kootenai County who claim that everything is just fine and dandy with County Clerk Dan English at the helm.
As you may know, Dan English is at the center of the controversy surrounding the 2009 Coeur d’Alene City Election. According to a report from KREM TV news, there were over 800 questionable absentee ballots counted in that election.
Attempts to reach Mr. Dan English for comment were unsuccessful, according to the KREM report.
Back in 2007, I ran for the Coeur d’Alene City Council. As part of the process, I obtained from the County Elections Department a voter database CD. That CD contained a copy (an Excel file) of the county’s voter records, which lists all registered voters and the elections in which they voted.
Obtaining the voter database is something political people do all the time. They use the information to send out mailers, to find the people who vote in every election, and to make phone calls.
The database CD is very handy to have, and it’s a public record so it’s available to anyone who asks. (The county does charge a fee for the CD.)
I also obtained a copy of the database CD for my 2009 run for City Council.
For the 2010 primary election, I was asked to create a voter list. I was to pull frequent absentee voters from the county’s list for a candidate’s mailing before the May 2010 primary.
Nerd Sidebar
Though the county uses Excel, or at least gives out Excel copies of the voter list, I transfer the information into a MySQL database for easier data management.
After the absentee list was created, a ran a few queries on the data to ensure that it was accurate. To my surprise, I noticed that my own voter information in the database showed that I was listed as having voted in the 2006 East Side Highway District Levy Election.
I do not live in the East Side Highway District, nor did I vote in that levy election.
Here is the County’s database record for an election in which I did not participate:
002730298|GOOKIN|DANIEL|K||714|W EMPIRE AVE||||COEUR D ALENE|ID|83814|2105|714|W EMPIRE AVE||||COEUR D ALENE|ID|83814|2105||M|04/04/2002|( ) -|1|04|54|05/23/2006|
My address, 714 W. Empire, is not in the East Side Highway District. I’m in the Worley District.
Oh, and yes: I did cross-check the MySQL database information with the original Excel file the County gave me. The original source confirmed that I was listed as having voted in the 2006 East Side Highway District levy election.
According to the county elections web site (click the 2006 Primary link), the total of all votes cast in the 2006 Eastside Highway District Levy Election was 2,070: 1,050 against, 1,020 for.
According to the county database, 12,745 people voted in the East Side Highway District Election.
The results in the database showed people from Post Falls, people from Hayden, people from all over the county voted in that election. They didn’t vote illegally (I would hope), but the official, legal record from the county shows them as having voted.
Obviously there was a major screw up. Yet, the County Elections Office, run by Dan English, is often touted by community leaders and those in the media as having run flawless elections for years.
I would assume that “flawless” implies keeping accurate records.
To determine what was wrong, I set up an appointment at the County Elections Office to examine the 2006 poll books.
I was told instead to contact the East Side Highway District as they had the poll books. So I did. But the nice folks at East Side, who were graciously helpful, were unable to find the poll books. So I called the Elections Department again, and they were surprised that they had the books.
On March 17 of this year, I went to the County Elections Department and was allowed to examine the 2006 polling books for the East Side Highway District.
As far as I could tell, the books looked fine. They showed the proper number of voters and voters who lived in the district. I was able to cross-check a few names I had and — according to what I saw — the poll books reflect the results that were posted on election night: 2,070 voters.
That still doesn’t account for the gross discrepancy in the database, which showed more then 10,000 additional people as having voted in that election. People from all over the county were listed, with apparently no reason behind why there were added to the East Side Highway District levy election list.
On my way out of the Elections Office, I spoke with Carrie Phillips, who is in charge of elections now that Deedie Beard has retired. I explained what I was looking for, but apparently the county has changed their database system. According to what I remember Ms. Phillips telling me, all counties in Idaho now use the same database software for tracking voters and votes.
Indeed: When I picked up the most recent voter database, the format is different. Further, the new database corrects the mistakes of the old one, and no longer lists 12,000-odd people as having voted in the East Side Highway District levy election.
And before you think of it: No, the County did not record everyone who voted in the 2006 primary as having voted in the East Side Highway District election. While that would still be a gross error, the fact is that there are two entries in that old database, one for each election. Here is my entry for voting in the 2006 primary:
|002730298|GOOKIN|DANIEL|K||714|W EMPIRE AVE||||COEUR D ALENE|ID|83814|2105|714|W EMPIRE AVE||||COEUR D ALENE|ID|83814|2105||M|04/04/2002|( ) - |1|04|54|05/23/2006|
The above record is in addition to the erroneous record showing me as a voter in the 2006 East Side Highway District levy election.
Ms. Phillips told me to contact Dan English regarding any questions on the old database. So I wrote Dan English an email explaining this entire situation and asking for an answer.
Good Morning, Dan.
I have some questions regarding the database used to store records for Kootenai County voters.
Today I visited the elections department to review the poll books for the Eastside Highway District Levy election 2006. I was asking Carrie and Susan some computer questions about how information is stored in the county’s database. As I remember it, they explained that the software you use comes from the State. I have some questions about that software and wanted to know if you knew any of the specifics or whether I should just pose my questions so the Secretary of State’s office. These are basically computer-nerd questions, as I’ve worked with the database for various campaigns and there are some maintenance issues I’m curious about.
Thank you for any help you can provide.
Best,
DAN
That was in March of this year.
I have yet to receive a reply.