Bond election not a conspiracy

The school bond election has caused much controversy in Moses Lake. Worse, it’s caused the spread of misinformation.

Gary Ash’s letter claims that: “Moses Lake School Officials obtained the list of 80 challenged voters ... and proceeded to call those people, encouraging “yes” voters to fix their signatures so they could be validated...” He also states that “this is prohibited by the Federal Election Commission Rule, which states, ‘... it’s a misuse of public resources to influence an election if the violation is committed by those working for, or appointed to positions with the government.’”

First, his claim about Federal Election Commission rules has nothing to do with Moses Lake elections. The Federal Election Commission oversees Federal campaign finance law, and has no jurisdiction in this election.

Second, even if that rule applied, it’s been taken out of context and altered in a way that makes it unrecognizable. Putting quotation marks around a phrase implies that it’s the exact words of the person or group being quoted, but an online search (by someone whose job is to teach research techniques) shows that no significant part of that quote is represented in Federal Election Commission rules. I can only guess at what the original rule stated.

Finally, it has not been established that Moses Lake school officials selectively called “yes” voters. Doing so would have required that they open the ballots and look at the results. I don’t believe that happened.

I too am disappointed in the Auditor’s Office failing to follow the RCWs. However, their actions show no intent to change the bond vote outcome. The Auditor’s Office hasn’t made telephone calls to voters with contested ballots in any recent election, including the ones in which the bond was voted down. This is not a conspiracy. It’s business as usual.

Steve Close

Moses Lake