A group of Democrat legislators has urged Governor Inslee to reverse his recent order again closing restaurants and bars to indoor service. In a November 16, 2020 letter to the Governor they criticized his order for lacking a scientific justification and imposing needless hardship on 100,000 hospitality workers, who will join the 93,000 workers in that industry already without jobs.
The legislators point out that less than 1% of COVID cases have been traced to dining in restaurants. They also dispute the Governor’s other claims that he used to justify his order closing restaurants and bars until December 14.
The figure cited by the legislators may be far less than 1% over the last months as it likely includes cases from early in the pandemic before mitigation measures were widely adopted.
The Democrat legislators who signed the letter range from Senator Mark Mullett, who owns several restaurants and whose reelection Inslee opposd, to very liberal Senators Joe Nyuyen and Rebecca Saldana who are reliable Inslee allies.
The legislators representing the Olympic Peninsula, Senator Kevin Van De Wege, and Representatives Steve Tharinger and Michael Chapman, did not sign onto the letter. The latest unemployment figures from the Washington Employment Security Division for Jefferson, Clallam and Gray’s Harbor Counties are 7.8%, 8.4% and 10.0% respectively. Port Townsend’s economy is heavily dependent on the hospitality industry.
The Washington Hospitality Association and former Governor Christine Gregoire, now CEO of Challenge Seattle, sent their own letter to Inslee, raising similar points. This may the first time that Democrat leaders have disputed the Governor’s claims about COVID and pointed to conflicting medical evidence that undermines the way he is exercising his otherwise unchallenged and essentially dictatorial emergency powers.
The findings of watchdog group Judicial Watch can be confirmed. They reported that Jefferson County was one of 353 counties across the nation with more registered than eligible voters. With their data in hand and having received a lengthy statement from Jefferson County Auditor Rose Ann Carroll, I can say that the Judicial Watch findings are substantially correct.
Judicial Watch’s voter information came from the Washington Secretary of State’s data. Judicial Watch obtained its number of eligible voters from the 2018 American Community Survey (ACS). ACS surveys are sent to 3.5 million households each month, and, according to Judicial Watch “are considered to be the most reliable estimates outside the decennial census.” The U.S. Census Bureau describes the ACS as “the premiere source for detailed population and housing information about our nation.” The 2018 survey was the culmination of five years of data collection and is the most recently reported ACS survey.
Judicial Watch found that Jefferson County had a total of 29,221 registered voters compared to 26,308 eligible voters resulting in having 11.107% more registered votes on its rolls than people of voting age.
I calculated slightly different numbers. The 2018 ACS I was able to locate reported that Jefferson County had a population of 30,856, with 3,926 under the age of 18. That results in an eligible voting population of 26,930. However you cut it, Jefferson County, has more registered than eligible voters.
Auditor Carroll provided me with the county’s latest numbers which show a total of 30,107 registered voters, again more than the number of eligible voters.
But Jefferson County has grown since the end of 2018, one might say. Could that explain away the problem?
The answer is “no.” The Census Bureau does put out other estimates of population data that are not as reliable as the five-year collection of data in the ACS. Its 2019 Vintage Estimate pegs Jefferson County’s population at 32,221, an increase of 1,365 or an annual increase of 4.4%. One could quibble with that estimate: where did those 1,365 new people find housing in a county with a vacancy rate of 0% that is producing very, very few new housing units? We don’t have that many babies, and our sizable old population means a larger percentage of the population than average dies each year.
Even accepting data that the Census Bureau does not promote as superior to the ACS data, we still have more registered than eligible voters. The 2019 Vintage Estimate figures indicate 3,802 persons under age 18, resulting in an eligible voting population of 28,419, once again substantially below the registered voter total reported by Auditor Carroll.
So what’s going on?
First off, this does not indicate a huge voter fraud problem, but rather one that exposes Jefferson County to litigation to force it to clean up its voter rolls and close the door on the potential for voting misconduct.
Judicial Watch’s nationwide study showed “1.8 million excess, or ‘ghost’ voters in 353 counties across 29 states,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “The data highlights the recklessness of mailing blindly ballots and ballot applications to voter registration lists. Dirty voting rolls can mean dirty elections.”
Judicial Watch has successfully sued a number of governmental entities for violating the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 by carrying large numbers of inactive voters on their rolls–what Judicial Watch calls “ghost voters.’
In Jefferson County we have more registered than eligible voters because our rolls are carrying 2,266 inactive voters. According to the Secretary of State of Washington, “If an election-related piece of mail is returned by the post office as undeliverable to the voter at that address, the registration is placed on ‘inactive’ status. A voter who is on inactive status may return to active status at any time by updating his or her address, requesting a ballot, or submitting a new voter registration application.”
But our active voter roll also includes people who receive ballots though they should not be voting here. We have reported several instances of people in Texas and Arizona getting Jefferson County ballots, and a woman in Jefferson County receiving a ballot for her daughter who moved to Texas years ago. One reason is, as we reported here, that the Auditor has selected a mail forwarding option with the USPS that results in the ballot following someone to addresses outside the county instead of being returned when it cannot be delivered to their previous Jefferson County address. There is an option that would prevent this from happening, but it is not the one selected by the Auditor.
While it is illegal for these people to vote in a Jefferson County election, there is nothing to stop them and little chance they would be caught. There is no national registry that would automatically catch people voting in different states, and it does happen. Instead of an enforcement mechanism to prevent such voter fraud, we have an honor system. A Pew Study in 2012 found that 2.75 million people were registered to vote in more than one state, and as many as 70,000 in three or more states. As Carroll explained in her email to us, it is up to the voter to take their name off our rolls when they move away. “A change of address via the United States Postal Service,” Carroll explained, “doesn’t mean that one’s voter registration is automatically cancelled and reassigned.”
In an attempt to catch people voting in different states, Washington and 29 other states are members of the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC). “ERIC members regularly exchange information about registered voters with member states comparing election information to detect double voters,” says Carroll.
What is Carroll’s response to the findings of Judicial Watch that Jefferson County has more registered than eligible voters (which I have confirmed)? “VoteWA is Washington State’s registration system. The VoteWA system is secured by highly skilled Office of the Secretary of State IT staff and Security Operations Center, using state of the art equipment and following IT industry best practices. All 39 counties use VoteWA.”
That is true, but it doesn’t contradict the findings by Judicial Watch. Thirteen other Washington counties share our problem. This is the very sort of failure at cleaning up voting rolls that keeps Judicial Watch lawyers busy.
Auditor Carroll spent a good deal of time composing her statement. It provides a good primer on many aspects of Washington’s voting laws and practices. It is the policy of the Port Townsend Free Press to publish in full all written responses to our written inquires. Accordingly, here it is:
Basic Information About Ballot Counting and Signature Checking of Every Ballot
Washington’s system of voting is in Chapter 29A.40 RCW. RCW 29A.40.010 states: “Each active registered voter shall continue to receive a ballot by mail until the death or disqualification of the voter, cancellation of the voter’s registration, or placing the voter on inactive status.” The County sends ballots to voters with a return envelope. RCW 29A.40.091(1). The return envelope contains a statement that the voter must sign under penalty of perjury “that it is illegal to vote if he or she is not a United States citizen; it is illegal to vote if he or she has been convicted of a felony and has not had his or her voting rights restored; and it is illegal to cast a ballot or sign a ballot declaration on behalf of another voter.” RCW 29A.40.091(2). All received return envelopes must be placed in secure locations from the time of delivery to the county auditor until their subsequent opening. RCW 29A.40.110(1).
RCW 29A.40.110 requires that all signatures on return envelops must be verified against registration records. All personnel assigned to verify signatures must receive training on statewide standards for signature verification. Personnel must verify that the voter’s signature on the ballot declaration is the same as the signature of that voter in the registration files of the county. Election observers appointed by the major political parties are present during the processing of the ballots at the County counting center. RCW 29A.40.100.
Jefferson County follows the required process completely and faithfully.
Basic Information about the Security of the Tabulation Systems Used in Washington
Washington employs paper-based systems, including voter verifiable paper audit trails, independent testing, pre- and post-election audits, and physical security of tabulation equipment.
Before a tabulation system can be used in Washington, the state requires testing at a federally approved independent testing lab. These expert testers include security reviews as a part of their overall testing efforts.
Then, systems are tested at the state level and reviewed by Washington’s voting systems certification board, comprised of technology experts, accessibility experts, and certified county election officials.
Counties must then perform acceptance testing and logic and accuracy testing prior to every election. The Washington Secretary of State’s office conducts post-election audits, where they draw precincts and races at random and compare the vote totals from the tabulator to a hand count of ballots before the election is certified.
How can voter move out of Washington State & receive a ballot to vote in Jefferson County?
Voting twice in any election is a felony. Thirty states including Washington are members of the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC). ERIC members regularly exchange information about registered voters with member states comparing election information to detect double voters.
The United States doesn’t have a universal registration system. Rather, each state has their own voter registration system and data. When voters move from one state to another, they have an obligation to cancel their registration and re-enroll at their new address. We work hard to convey this at every opportunity. This is true wherever you live, regardless of polling place or Vote-By-Mail. If you are registered to vote in Arizona and then move to Oregon, your name will remain in the poll books in Arizona until you notify the registrar that you have moved to Oregon. And since Arizona allows absentee voting, you could certainly receive a mailed Arizona ballot while you are in Oregon.
If someone is an active voter in Washington State even if they have been temporarily assigned to a new work location, gone away to college or seasonally go to a warmer climate for the Winter they are still eligible to receive a ballot. We would hate to see them miss an election since they took the time to register to vote in Washington State.
If someone no longer wishes to be a Washington State voter. The voter must terminate their registration by notifying us by written notification which must include their signature. A change of address via the United States Postal Service doesn’t mean that one’s voter registration is automatically cancelled and reassigned.
Anyone who is registered to vote in one state and moves to another state has an obligation to do the responsible thing and update their voter registration with the state they moved from and the state they moved to.
Judicial Watch claim of having more registered voters than eligible voters in Jefferson County.
VoteWA is Washington State’s registration system. The VoteWA system is secured by highly skilled Office of the Secretary of State IT staff and Security Operations Center, using state of the art equipment and following IT industry best practices. All 39 counties use VoteWA. Jefferson County has the ability to run a report that will give us the following information as of the last update done at the State level.
County Jefferson
Active Voter is fully qualified to vote. (Receives a Ballot)
Inactive Notification received from USPS that election mail sent to the voter was undeliverable or the voter moved out of the county. (Does not receive a Ballot)
Pending Record is processing or an issue must be resolved. (Does not receive a Ballot)
Active + Inactive + Pending = Total Registered Voters
Democrats rule supreme and Jefferson County is paying the price for their almost two decades of monopoly power.
Just look at the city and county elected officials in every office. Only one is not a Democrat. All the various boards of the county and city are appointed by one party. No decision is made in Jefferson County that does not conform to the tenets of the Democratic Party.
What has been the effect of this domination? Answer: the problems we have now that we didn’t have when there was a viable two-party system in this county.
We lack good jobs more than ever. Our children have to leave to find employment. Don’t believe me? Ask your neighbors and friends with children who graduated from local high schools why their kids are gone.
Not only do we lack jobs, we also lack affordable housing more than ever before. There have been no apartment buildings built in a very long time. While we have over 300 subdivisions in Jefferson County none have been created in many years. Starter homes are in terribly short supply and their cost is skyrocketing.
The other side of the coin on housing affordability I’ve already mentioned: we don’t have jobs that make it possible for people to afford the housing that is here.
We do not have businesses moving to our area. When it is big news is that a commercial kitchen opened in Port Townsend so a couple food trucks have a place to prepare sandwiches you know there is a problem. Where is the news of a shoe store opening, or a clothing store or a manufacturing company that offers solid blue-collar wages?
There are many who say, “GOOD. We do not want all that. We’re here to get away from that world.” There is a certain amount of merit to that for a privileged few people who really do want to escape the world of young people with good jobs, roofs over their heads and who are building new families. These are the people with the money to buy their Nirvana. But, the result is that the value of property soars and the local people who need jobs and have families get squeezed to the point that they have to leave. So the entire county gets gentrified. This, in fact, has been a conscious policy goal of the elite Democrats in Port Townsend.
All of this has been written and talked about before. What has been ignored is the real reason it is happening. The answer is the people who run the Democratic Party.
Face it. We live in a dictatorship of a single party, kind of like those “Banana Republics” we hear about. One party, one rule. Do it our way or take the highway!
What we are lacking is an opposing view. Our nation was established to allow the view of even one person to be heard. It is quite important to have a forum for disparate views. But, it is just not hearing those voices that is important. We need the give and take that happens when one party does not control everything. Sometimes that give and take is messy. But, in the end it establishes a society that is much fairer and healthier.
One party rule does not work in the long run. The current one-party regime has lasted for over 15 years. When it collapses, which it will, there will be reverberations that could be avoided if the party in power had listened to the other side. One way for other voices to be heard is to simply appoint a wide range of politically and ideologically diverse people to the various boards that advise decision makers. Long term what would be much more fair and reasonable would be to establish a county charter so that county commission districts in the county elect their own representatives to reflect and serve their distinct interests. But, that might threaten the Democrats’ monopoly control and they will use their dominance to keep their grip on their monopoly power even though the county would benefit.
Jefferson County has 11% more voter registrations than it does eligible voters. That’s according to a study conducted by Judicial Watch, a Washington, D.C. watchdog group known for suing states with dodgy voter rolls.
The study revealed that 353 counties across the country had 1.8 million more voters on their rolls than they did eligible voting-age citizens. Eight states had registration rates higher than 100% of possible eligible voters: Alaska, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont.
The September 2020 study collected the most recent registration data posted online by the states themselves. This data was then compared to the Census Bureau’s most recent five-year population estimates, gathered by the American Community Survey (ACS) from 2014 through 2018. ACS surveys are sent to 3.5 million addresses each month, and its five-year estimates are considered to be the most reliable estimates outside of the decennial census.
“The data highlights the recklessness of mailing blindly ballots and ballot applications to voter registration lists. Dirty voting rolls can mean dirty elections,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.
Judicial Watch has successfully sued several states for having voting rolls that did not comply with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993.
Other Washington counties showed registration rates above the maximum eligible voter rate: Garfield County, Pend Oreille County, San Juan County, Wahkiakum County, Stevens County, Pacific County, Clark County, Island County, Klickitat County, Thurston County, Lincoln County, Whatcom County, and Asotin County.
The Judicial Watch study indicates that Jefferson County has 2,770 ghost voters on its rolls. The Auditor reports there were 27,701 registrations on record for the November 3 election. That number of ballots would have been mailed out to whatever addresses were on record. According to the Judicial Watch findings, 11% of that number are not eligible voters for one reason or another.
In August, Port Townsend Free Press reported on how Jefferson County had invited non-residents to vote as though they were county residents by sending ballots to a couple that had moved to Texas. We never got an explanation from Jefferson County Auditor Rose Ann Carroll. We are reaching out to her again to seek her response to the Judicial Watch study and will report what she has to say if she answers our questions. We will also contact the Secretary of State Kim Wyman for her response.
Update: The table that accompanied the press release seems to be missing the data for Washington state. I have contacted Judicial Watch and requested that information.
Update: In response to this article, I was contacted by a couple in Arizona saying they had received Jefferson County ballots, and woman in Jefferson County who says a ballot was delivered for her daughter who moved to Texas about 2 years ago.
Update: I have not yet received from Judicial Watch the data they used. I am trying to speak with their public information officer, and was told I could reach her tomorrow. If you read their data on other states, they are using several categories of data, not just a fixed “eligible” versus “registered” comparison.
Jefferson County Auditor Rose Ann Carroll in an email to County Manager Phillip Morley says the Judicial Watch analysis is incorrect. I will pass this on to Judicial Watch and seek their explanation. I also sent an email to the Auditor to ask how she calculated precisely 30,107 eligible voters and what steps her office takes to prevent people in other states from getting ballots, and why those measures appear to have failed.
The number of voters receiving ballots in Carroll’s email to the city manager, 7,704, differs from the number of registered voters on the 11/6/20 canvas, which is 7,751, and is different than the number of registered voters shown on the Auditor’s website for “Current Election Results,” which is 7,701.
Yet Another Update: I stumbled on the Washington data in the table accompanying the Judicial Watch press release. It was not near the alphabetical end of their table, but in the middle. They grouped states by two categories and I initially missed that. Their data is taken from the Secretary of State’s website which apparently differs greatly with what the Jefferson County Auditor is reporting. The Washington Secretary of State, according to Judicial Watch, shows a total voter registration figure of 29,221 (the last figure to the right). That is the sum of active and inactive registrations from the immediately two proceeding columns. The eligible voter population they are reporting is 26,780, based on the Census Bureau’s most recent five-year estimate, which comes from data collected the monthly American Community Surveys. We still have a lot of unanswered questions. Auditor Carroll has promised an explanation to the Chair of the Jefferson County GOP by week’s end. By then I may have more information from Judicial Watch, as well.
I checked the link to the Secretary of State’s data (not active in the above snipped image, but in the original table) and it does not match the total or even active registration numbers on the Judicial Watch table. The SOS reports a total Jefferson County registration of 7,704. That is what the SOS shows as of now. I can’t say if there were different numbers there when Judicial Watch gathered its data. Also, I don’t know the source of the “inactive” registration figure. Back to waiting to hear from Judicial Watch and the Auditor.
This election will not heal wounds or build bridges. The half of the country that does not want socialism and refuses to surrender its fundamental rights will be subjected to increasing oppression and restrictions by the ascendant Democrats nationally and on the state level. That is how socialism always deals with dissent.
I write this as it appears that Joe Biden will be our next President. The numbers may change, but he looks to be headed to the White House. I pray that I am wrong and all that follows is wrong.
With Biden and the openly totalitarian Kamala Harris in control it won’t just be restrictions on isolated aspects of gun ownership that we’ll see, something marketable to a broad audience. There will be an outright effort to prevent citizens from owning guns. That has always been the goal. Confiscation is around the corner. Criminals won’t comply, of course. It will be law-abiding citizens who lose their ability to defend themselves, not just from those outlaws who retain their arms, but from a government coming after their other freedoms.
The assaults on freedom will turn to speech, worship, and private property. Censorship to suffocate dissenting viewpoints and deprive citizens of information will accelerate, with Big Tech in bed with the Democrat majority it helped produce. The acceptance of censorship will be intellectualized and spread by Left leaning institutions. The Left leaning media itself will impose censorship on outlets that depart from the party-approved line. We are already seeing this happening and it will get worse because it benefits Democrats.
The assault on freedom of worship will strike at the heart of religious liberty. We are already seeing the COVID restrictions used to shut down worship, or determine how it is done. It used to be that the worship hour was a period of complete liberty but that is going to change. Not only will freedom of worship be limited to worship days–you can believe what you want on Sunday, but don’t live those beliefs the rest of the week–government will seek to eliminate certain beliefs and practices altogether through claims it is addressing discrimination.
The freedom of assembly is in for a rough time. That is because the party that has won power does not value the principle of dissent when that dissent challenges its control. Engaging in activism through the Internet will be more tightly regulated. “Fact checking” and “preventing dissemination of misleading information” will be the claims that excuse sharing of information and organizing on social media. It is already happening–even Mail Chimp is now prohibiting broadcasting information to which it has objection. In-person organizing–out on the streets and in public squares–is already under attack. We saw the Attorney General of Minnesota threatening venues offering to hold rallies for President Trump, even though he ignored marches and gatherings that promoted his political viewpoints. Jay Inslee ordered law enforcement to turn an I-5 bridge over to Black Lives Matter at the same time he was shutting down businesses and churches. And when dissenters step out into the public, they can expect more and more to be met with the physical violence of Democrats’ street thugs. As Seattle and Portland and Kenosha show, those who go to the streets for the Left’s causes and destroy property and injure others are treated leniently, while those who defend property and life against the Left’s mobs are quickly subjected to the full weight of the state’s coercive powers.
Private property will come under more attacks. It won’t be the billionaires who get hurt the most. They sit at the table with the powerful. Even in the old Soviet Union there was an upper class that lived well. It will be those who own businesses and farms, who don’t make their living in a virtual world, who will be told that “you didn’t build that” with all its implications. Under the guise of protecting the environment or battling “climate change” private property will be rendered a meaningless constitutional principle.
This election was never about actually getting anything done that made America a better, stronger nation. President Trump’s record of economic prosperity that spread to Blacks and Hispanics with historic improvements was not the issue. His renegotiating unfair trade treaties that crushed America factories was not the point of contention. His wars–exactly, what wars? He is the first President in forty years not to get us into a new war or military intervention.
His accomplishments were never much debated because at a more profound level the election was about turning this country towards socialism with its inevitable slide into totalitarianism. There is no reversing that course by the democratic processes socialists eviscerate in order to entrench their power. They don’t believe in the virtues of dissent, debate and democracy when their control would be challenged.
We can no longer say, “We all want the same thing, but just disagree on how to get there.” No, we don’t agree even on what America means any more. That makes for a much deeper divide than we have faced since our first civil war. We can acquiesce or surrender to the destruction of our liberties and freedoms, or we can fight at every point of conflict, with everything we have. The totalitarian Left has already made that choice. The question is whether the other half of the country gives up. The alternative is an America of nightmares.
2020 saw young conservatives emerging as activists in Jefferson County. They had not previously been involved in politics of any kind. They are fearless, motivated and already making a mark on their community. They have deep roots here, all of them having grown up in Jefferson County. These are people to watch.
The year started with Josh Peacock being pulled over by police in Port Townsend. Two 911 calls had come in of a young man flying a big Trump flag off the bed of his pickup. In defiance of the sometimes oppressive political local monoculture, Peacock had established a routine of driving a circuit around Uptown and Downtown with a flag pole on the back of his truck. On one of these days, a police cruiser followed him and its lights came on. The officer told him about the 911 calls. He had been watching Peacock but couldn’t see him doing anything wrong. He apologized, wished him a good day and complimented Peacock on his good driving skills.
Word of what happened to Peacock sparked other public displays of support for President Trump during the following year. Those 911 calls backfired.
Peacock and his friends later marched in the January Women’s March–or Womxn’s March, whatever it is. They brought up the rear flying Trump banners and a huge American flag. For blocks they shouted, “Four more years!” to the consternation of people in odd pink hats who looked back over their shoulders at the boisterous crew at their heels.
Peacock has participated in protests and rallies in Portland and Seattle in support of President Trump and law enforcement. He participated in the peaceful march of thousands of Proud Boys across a bridge and into downtown Portland. He works in security professionally and has provided his services to protect others against the violence of Antifa and Black Lives Matter.
Danielle Rain’s business was declared “non-essential” by Governor Inslee, though it was absolutely essential to her family’s survival and well-being. She was instrumental in launching the Reopen Washington State Facebook group. That resource has connected those forced out of work by the Governor’s “guidance,” business owners ordered to shut down and bleed red ink, local officials seeing their communities ravaged not by a virus but by the Governor’s actions and medical patients denied critical care because the Governor had inserted himself into the doctor-patient relationship. It has served as an organizing tool for rallies across the state. That group now has over 50,000 members.
Rain and other young women organized the first Reopen Jefferson County rally on May 19, 2020. I wrote about that event in “Fear and Loathing in Port Townsend.”
Rebekah White jumped into the County Commission District 1 race against incumbent Kate Dean just weeks before election day. She’s not kidding herself about her chances. She stepped up to make a statement, gain experience and build towards another run for office in the future. She says she had to do something after watching Dean ally herself with Black Lives Matter and push a “systemic racism” declaration through the Board of Health while for four years Dean has done nothing about the county’s suicide, drug addiction, joblessness and affordable housing crises. Dean was instrumental in preventing Sheriff’s deputies from receiving small gift bags for law enforcement appreciation day. White had raised the funds for those tokens of recognition and assembled dozens of the bags. Before a similar complaint made it to the Port Townsend Police, White rushed to the Port Townsend police department and left bags for every officer in the reception area. She is resourceful in that kind of creative, fun, tenacious way, like posing for a campaign shoot in front of Dean’s failed Cherry Street Project. One of her major goals is to get more young people involved in local politics. White is a pediatric medical assistant. Her campaign Facebook page is here at this link.
Leanne Dotson is a powerful woman in many ways. She teaches weight training for women and can dead lift more than most men. She comes from a law enforcement family. Her father was Sheriff and her husband is a deputy. She had seriously considered pursuing a career in law enforcement, but opted against it so that both parents of her children would not be putting their lives at risk every day they stepped out the door.
Watching the political attacks on law enforcement spreading to Jefferson County, in particular the calls to disarm police and leave them defenseless, drove her to say, “Enough!” With other law enforcement wives, Dotson organized several pro-law enforcement demonstrations around the county, culminating in the massive August 30 Back the Blue motorcade. That event drew over 400 vehicles that formed a six-mile line of cars, trucks and motorcycles stretching from H.J. Carroll Park in Chimacum to downtown Port Townsend. Her confident and calm leadership and her wide network of contacts in the community made that such an impactful and successful event. Dotson works as a courtroom administrator and continues to steer her piece of the pro-law enforcement movement in Jefferson County.
If Jefferson County has more Culp for Governor signs per capita than any other county the credit goes to Robyn Middleton. Middleton is the Jefferson County coordinator/field manager for Loren Culp. She has never participated before in any political campaign, let alone been in charge of one. Her efforts have spilled over into neighboring counties. She produced the 1,300 person rally for Culp in Port Angeles in September.
She seems to know or know about everyone in Jefferson County. She is a fighter. She has hunted down sign thieves and relentlessly replaces destroyed Culp signs, working day and night with her husband and the crew of volunteers she has built. She also cares for a seriously ailing father, driving him to medical appointments and taking him hunting. She never says much about her own battle. While working overtime for Culp and her family, Middleton is living on 2/3 of a kidney and waiting for a transplant. How she finds the strength and energy to keep going astounds all around her.
Aside from the stunning proliferation of Culp signs, Middleton has engaged hundreds of people who, like her, have never “been political” about anything. They are the working poor and the old rural families forgotten and ignored by Port Townsend’s political elites. That is the mark of a real leader and an effective activist.
He is only starting out, just getting on his feet in the position, but honorable mention goes to Aronn Wilke, the head of the brand new Jefferson County Young Republicans. You read that correctly: young Republicans. Imagine that.
However this election turns out, it is encouraging to see a desperately needed diversity of voices speaking up and being heard in Jefferson County. Keep your eye on these people in 2021 and beyond.
