Sammy Winner: Stefan Sharkansky
Sunshine Award
If there’s one thing Stefan Sharkansky—the winner of the Sammy Sunshine Award—has learned from his experiences using open records, it’s that persistence is imperative.
Sharkansky, who started Sound Politics—the most widely-read conservative political blog in the Washington region (it garners 5,000 visits per weekday)—in July 2004 with a group of other contributing writers, is best known for his ongoing investigative reporting about problems within the King County Elections Office.
Sound Politics champions limited, transparent, and accountable government; fiscal responsibility; and election integrity while reporting on state and local politics in the
However, it hasn’t been easy.
It all started with, as Sharkansky put it,
This situation alone is puzzling, but the entire election was plagued by irregular vote counting, particularly in
The biggest irregularity, Sharkansky said, was that
Sharkansky didn’t stop there, however. His investigative reporting work was crucial in shining light on numerous problems with
But even after the contest trial was over, Sharkansky was still curious about how so many irregularities had been allowed to happen, so he continued his investigation.
“It took nearly two years for me to get all of the documents that would explain most of the mystery,” he said. “But I managed to confirm that
This included, Sharkansky said, a few hundred ballots from people who were not registered and not eligible to vote in that election, and over a hundred ballots from people who had submitted two ballots where both ballots were counted.
“Getting the records to show all this was hard enough,” he went on. “It took numerous public records requests, and a lot of resistance, foot dragging, and initial refusals by election officials. Even after I got the records, the analysis was painstaking. I used my professional skills in database programming to search the computer records for potential illegal votes. Then with the help of a few volunteers, I spent dozens of hours searching through absentee and provisional ballot envelopes to find and photograph examples of actual ballots that had been unlawfully counted.”
Sharkansky’s persistence paid off, however. These results solved the mystery surrounding the voting discrepancies, and proved that election officials hid this information from the public and resisted (for nearly two years) releasing the requested records. And most importantly, these findings helped inform the public about election procedures, which Sharkansky hopes will make it more difficult for election officials to conceal errors, and in turn, lead to improved integrity and accuracy in future elections.
Because Sharkansky’s investigation helped raise these issues with the public and with some lawmakers, his efforts also helped influence important legislation at both the state and county levels. For example, last year state legislators were considering a bill that would have prohibited the public disclosure or copying of ballot envelopes—which would have made the work Sharkansky did to expose illegal vote counting impossible.
“I testified against the bill in committee, argued against the bill on the blog, and privately contacted a few legislators,” he said. “I know that some legislators who had initially supported the bill had changed their minds after I explained the serious implications and the bill quietly died before it came to a floor vote.”
In another case last summer, the King County Elections Office was verifying every signature for two different initiative campaigns—a very time-consuming and expensive process—even though state law allows statewide initiative petitions to be validated with a much faster, simpler, and less expensive method: all signatures are verified only if the sampling indicates the initiative won’t qualify with a comfortable margin.
“After I raised the issue on the blog and brought it to the attention of
Sharkansky’s favorite example of making a real impact, however, was when Initiative 25 passed overwhelmingly in November, reforming the King County Elections Office to make the Elections Director an elected official (as opposed to an appointed one), accountable to all citizens.
“The most rewarding part is when other people learn from, think about, and are moved to action by what I report,” he said. “I like to think that my investigative reporting on the elections office helped educate the public about the underlying problems and the need for reform.”
It’s this kind of impact that helped Sharkansky earn the Sammy Sunshine Award.
“I was honored and thrilled [when he found out],” he said. “More important than my own award, I think it’s terrific that the Sam Adams Alliance is specifically honoring individual citizen activists. Too often, it seems, we leave politics to a permanent professional class of elected officials, staffers, journalists, interest group officials and lobbyists, sometimes crowding out the voices and the wishes of average citizens. By honoring individual citizens, the Sammy Awards should inspire other, perhaps as yet unengaged citizens, to dedicate some of their time and energy on projects to defend our liberties.”
We couldn’t have said it better. While it’s tremendously important for citizens to join the fray in their own communities and states, it’s not, however, always easy to know where to begin. So, here Sharkansky offers a few general helpful principles for open records novices:
• Understand the specific laws that apply to the agency you’re requesting documents from.
• Talk to people who have had experience using the applicable open records laws to get guidance.
• Remember that, in general, you’re entitled to receive the documents, unless there’s a specific exemption that prohibits their disclosure. If the agency responds with a legitimate legal objection, you might need to consult with an attorney to explore options. Otherwise, don’t let bureaucratic delay tactics discourage your pursuit of public records. But be patient. It can sometimes take a really long time for an agency to comply with an inconvenient request.
• Always remember that the agency employees immediately responsible for handling your request are ordinary folks who are doing their jobs and typically want to do the right thing and assist the public (even if the responsible officeholder or senior agency officials might prefer to obstruct disclosure). Treat them with courtesy and respect and communicate clearly. Remain polite even if the response is slow or inadequate, but remain firm and indicate that you may publish the documents (or lack thereof) and that you reserve the right to sue if the response is unlawfully slow and inadequate. (Sharkansky is currently doing just that—he’s suing
• If you’re requesting documents on a topic of significant public interest and are having difficulty obtaining the documents, enlist the interest of relevant lawmakers, professional journalists, and other bloggers.
Congratulations to Stefan Sharkansky—the Sam Adams
