Boze reveals lawsuit over voter guide bias
Jan 31, 2014, 10:54 AM | Updated: Feb 3, 2014, 12:34 pm
Thurston County may not be doing enough to provide balanced information in voter guides, and now they are being sued for it.
On the David Boze show, Freedom Foundation vice president Trent England revealed that the group will sue the Thurston County Auditor for not providing balanced information in voting guides.
Recently, Thurston County published a voter guide featuring one-sided information about five upcoming tax measures. Under state law, the county auditor is supposed to solicit pro and con statements for inclusion in voter guides.
In December, the Freedom Foundation sent a letter to Thurston County volunteering to write opposing statements, but never heard back from Auditor Mary Hall. Hall’s silence spurred the foundation to sue.
The Freedom Foundation discovered last year that many voter pamphlets do not contain statements opposing issues like tax increases.
The foundation, an Olympia-based group that seeks to advance individual liberty and limited government, sent letters to all 39 county auditors volunteering its members to write opposing statements.
The Freedom Foundation heard back from many counties willing to take them up on the offer – but not Thurston County.
“We’re going to take the Thurston County auditor to court; we’re asking a judge in Washington state to make it absolutely clear that this is a serious responsibility,” England told Boze.
“It becomes a situation where government officials are basically becoming a political side to the argument. It becomes in effect a campaign piece for the pro-tax side,” Boze said. “Was there an apology from the Thurston County auditor?”
“No, not so far,” England reported.
