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Examiner The Whidbey
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Whidbey Island’s Only Locally Owned, Independent Newspaper
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2011
VOL. 17, NO. 15
Two ballots Veterans Day 11/11/11 confound local voter By Kasia Pierzga Examiner Staff Writer
A Coupeville voter said he’s worried about the integrity of elections in Washington after he received two ballots for the Nov. 8 election. Jim Martyn stopped by The Whidbey Examiner office Tuesday morning with both ballots in hand. Martyn had legally changed his name in May 2006, but one of the ballots he received had his old name on it. The other was addressed to his new name. “This certainly violates the principle of one person, one vote,” said Martyn, who believes that voting in person at an election poll where a trained poll worker checks each voter’s identification is much safer than the vote-by-mail system. But state voter-registration officials say Martyn got two ballots because he registered to vote under his new name without canceling his registration under his old name. Martyn asked that his previous name not be used in this story. According to state records, Martyn filed election ballots under his old name in 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2010. In December 2010, he filed a new voter registration under his new name when he renewed his driver’s license through the state Department of Licensing. As a result, when election time arrived this year, two ballots arrived in the mail. Patty Murphy, a voting-systems specialist at the Washington Secretary of State’s Office, said the statewide voter registration database developed in 2006 is checked about once a year for duplicate records. In addition to voter names, the system uses Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, dates of birth, addresses and phone numbers to ensure that each voter receives only one ballot. But because Martyn had originally registered to vote before the statewide voter database was established, there was no license number or Social Security number on file for him, making it nearly impossible to catch the problem, Murphy said. Making the situation more complicated was that Martyn had also changed his first and middle names, his phone number and
Kasia Pierzga / The Whidbey Examiner
U.S. Navy veteran Jack McPherson of Coupeville shows off the timeworn American flag that once belonged to the man who built their 19th-century home on Front Street. The national symbol is a point of pride for McPherson, who helps organize the Veterans Day ceremony at the Island County courthouse each year.
Honoring veterans a valued tradition By Toni Grove For the Examiner
Every Memorial Day, retired Navy Commander and former Coupeville Mayor Jack McPherson flies a timeworn American flag from the building on Front Street where he and wife Joan live. When the McPhersons first purchased the 1890s-era building that became their home and the site of Joan McPherson’s law offices, the building came with a hidden bonus: Elmer Calhoun’s fragile, 49star flag. Elmer Calhoun, a La Conner native, bought the building in the late 19th century after a stint prospecting for gold in Alaska. For a time, Calhoun also owned the Coupeville Wharf, was deeply involved in the local economy and community and, like McPherson, once served as mayor of Coupeville. McPherson likes to point out that except for the original builder, “everyone See BALLOTS, page 6 who’s owned the building was the mayor
of Coupeville.” McPherson considers flying the old flag a nod to the town’s past. “We fly it every year as a tribute to the building and Elmer Calhoun, who owned it,” he said. Connecting the past to the present is important to 81-year old McPherson, as is the community he and his family have called home for almost 40 years. McPherson grew up in the San Francisco Bay area and joined the Navy Reserve as a seaman in 1947, right out of high school. “I spent quite a few years in the reserve, and then went to officer’s candidate school and went active in 1953,” he said. It was when McPherson was stationed in Seattle after a tour in Viet Nam that a friend suggested he visit Whidbey Island. “He said, ‘You should take the kids up to Fort Casey to fly kites.’ So we came up here one day. We just fell in love with the See VET, page 6
Honor veterans in Coupeville Nov. 11 Central Whidbey Lions Club and the Town of Coupeville partner to provide a ceremony in recognition of Veteran’s Day at 11 a.m. Friday, Nov. 11 at the Veterans Memorial Plaza adjacent to the Island County courthouse at Sixth and Center streets in Coupeville. Lions Club members will present flags representing the various branches of the service. Coupeville Mayor Nancy Conard will offer some brief remarks, and community participants will join in singing patriotic songs. The ceremony is intended to honor and thank all those who have served in the armed forces. Everyone is encouraged to attend.