KC Star Publisher responds to EJ: I Didn’t Double Vote

I received this e-mail from Mark Zieman, in response to the post Double Voting in the Kansas Cities:

To the Election Journal and Voter Fraud Squad:

Please remove or correct all items that falsely accuse me of double voting and committing fraud. (See below).

As you must well know, and as The Kansas City Star has extensively reported, it is not illegal to be registered in more than one place. It is only illegal to vote twice in the same election — which I have never done and which both the Missouri and Kansas Secretaries of State office will confirm. In fact, tens of thousands of people are registered in more than one place because, like me, they have moved and election officials in their new location did not notify those in their prior location. This is a communication problem involving the election offices — not the fault of the voters themselves — and is something The Star also has reported. I have called the election office in Kansas and they have told me they will correct their error, and to make certain of it I have sent them a signed letter. Feel free to check back with them repeatedly until my name is dropped from their rolls.

I am proud of our coverage on election fraud, and you are welcome to review it and quote from it. But I have never “double voted” in my life and insist you correct your error. In short, I ask you to meet The Star’s standard of accuracy by checking your facts before misleading readers. And as an aside, my wife is not an employee of The Star, as the item also incorrectly states.

If you want to double check my facts, please feel free to call:
The Kansas Secretary of State’s Office: 785/296-4564
The Johnson Co., KS, Election Office: 913/782-3441

Best regards,
Mark Zieman

Mark Zieman | The Kansas City Star | President and Publisher |

Election Journal did not and does not claim that Zieman illegally voted twice.  The post from Voter Fraud Squad, which was linked, stated:

While there is no evidence that Zieman has ever voted in the same election in both states, Zieman’s case shows how poor voter records can be, and begs for the Star to promote voter registration reform. E-mails to Mark Zieman at the Star on June 2, 2008 and June 4, 2008 about his dual registration were never answered.

According to voter data obtained from the Secretary of State’s Office in Kansas and Missouri,  Zieman registered in Kansas in 1992 and registered in Missouri in 1997.  That means he has been carried as an active voter in Johnson County, Kansas for 11 years without casting a single ballot.  How does that happen?

I called the Johnson County Election Commission and spoke to Karen Browning, the Deputy Election Commissioner.  She explained to me that before each election, a “Notice of Disposition” is mailed to each voter confirming their registration.  If a notice is returned as undeliverable, a second mailing is sent.  If that mailing is also returned the person is placed on an inactive list.  If they then fail to vote in two federal elections, they are removed from the rolls.

I was told 13 notices have been mailed to Zieman since 1999. The latest was in June 2008.  None were returned.  Browning said either the residents of the home have been throwing out mail addressed to Zieman or it is forwarded to him.  But, because it is not returned, he remains an active voter.  I spoke to Zieman, and he states that he does not live in Johnson County and does not know what happens to the mail.

In addition, Browning said that Kansas and Missouri do compare voter lists in an effort to remove duplicate registrations, but because Zieman is registered as “G. Mark” in Kansas and “Gregory M.” in Missouri, the system would not flag that as a duplicate.

This is obviously more than a communications problem with the election offices.  Although Zieman has not taken advantage of his double registration to cast multiple votes, the KC Star has demonstrated that this does happen - and allowing people to continue to have multiple registrations will allow vote fraud to continue.

Browning thanked me for bringing the registration to their attention.  She stated they would contact the Kansas City Election Board to verify the information and take steps to cancel the registration.  I also informed her that Zieman would be sending a letter and that would hopefully expidite the process.