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I wrote a little about this last night.
I received a letter from Kirby Wilbur, his wife, and another couple who live in our hometown. Kirby Wilbur is a local right-wing radio celebrity. It seems that Mr. Wilbur didn't do a lot of research before the letter went out to me, as you'll see by the following.
I hope they'll enjoy the response. God knows I enjoyed writing it. And, yes, we voted for Barack Obama, the next President of the United States, last Sunday afternoon via absentee ballot at our kitchen table.
Julie
October 28, 2008
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Happer, and Mr. and Mrs. Wilbur,
Thank you for your recent letter. I was a little surprised to receive it, seeing as how we live somewhat of a distance from your neighborhood. At the same time, the contents of the letter are even more surprising to me than the fact you wrote at all.
I read the letter. I hope you’ll do me the simple courtesy of reading my response.
As you probably already know, my husband ____ and I are perfect voters. A “perfect” voter has voted in all elections for the past four years. Since you most likely got my contact information from either the state Republican Party or King County Republicans, I’m sure this is no secret. At the same time, I noted in your letter some concern about “election fraud”. I’m so glad you brought this up.
I am one of the 1,900+ people in King County who had their voting registration challenged in 2005 by your current King County party chairperson, Lori Sotelo. I have been legally registered to vote in this state since 1978. I have never met Mrs. Sotelo. She claimed on the form she used to dispute my registration that she had “personal knowledge” that I was defrauding the state of Washington by voting here. She also claimed that the reason she challenged my registration was because I had no known address. This is interesting. We’ve lived in the same home you sent your letter to for the past eight years. We receive mail at that home. The only change to my voting status in the past thirty years was a legal name change upon our marriage in 1993. Even more interesting – I ran to defend the Duvall City Council seat I held one year prior to this incident. My voting registration was checked on the spot by King County Elections at that time; everything was in order, according to them. Imagine my surprise when the late Republican King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng refused to charge Mrs. Sotelo with the nineteen hundred counts of perjury she’d committed.
To say that it is the height of irony that four years after the Republican Party attempted to have my right to vote in this state removed, you’re now asking for that vote, is an understatement. I can safely say that after my experience, if I’d ever had any inclination at all to vote for a Republican, it’s not going to happen. They can’t be trusted. They abuse the power they’re given with impunity.
In the meantime, I appreciate the reminder to vote. Just to let you know, we voted by absentee ballot last Sunday afternoon. Instead of the “grassroots” – oops, Republican – candidates your attachment suggested, we voted for Democrats.
Sincerely,
(my legal name)
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