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- Editor’s note: After seeing the voter registration and address records, I published a blog entry last week about city council Position 6 challenger Matthew McLellan not meeting eligibility requirements by not residing within the Yelm city limits for at least one year prior to the 2019 election. On March 28, 2019, McLellan updated his voter registration records to within Yelm city limits and a mailing address outside of the Yelm city limits. He was not a registered voter in the city of Yelm at least one year prior to this November’s council election.
- Subsequently, I viewed the voter registration and address records of city council Position 2 challenger Cameron Jayne. Her voting registration and mailing address were changed from rural Thurston County to within Yelm city limits on May 14, 2019, indicating Cameron also has not met eligibility requirements.
- I reached-out to both candidates for a response and have received none at time of publication.
- The Yelm Chamber Forum luncheon is today where the councilors for re-election and their challengers will have an opportunity to state their platforms. These two candidates should inform the public of the facts and seek office another year after meeting eligibility requirements.
- The Laws of the State of Washington and the City of Yelm –
- Revised Code of Washington 35A.12.030 (RCW) as adopted by Yelm Municipal Code: 1.02.040 (YMC) requires, “No person shall be eligible to hold elective office under the mayor-council plan (of government) unless the person is a registered voter of the city at the time of filing his declaration of candidacy and has been a resident of the city for a period of at least one year next preceding his election.” Read more
- Bottom line:
- While I support anyone seeking public office and participating in the process, running for election to a city council seat requires an elevated attention to detail to earn the public’s trust and properly execute their duties of office if elected, not reflective in either of their candidacies. After all, should they have won elective office, they would have taken an Oath of Office to uphold the laws of the United States, State of Washington State and the City of Yelm.
- If a candidate is uniformed about or sides-steps the laws in running for elective office, then what value would their Oath of Office have been?
- The voters of Yelm have a right to know about this information.
- The Nisqually Valley News (NVN) has had the information about council candidate McLellan for a week and obviously chosen not to run this story. Omission has also been used as a powerful tool to sway an election by not informing the electorate in “fair and balanced” reporting, the quoted phrase this newspaper’s publisher has often touted.
- However, the newspaper’s omissions will not matter in these stories. Candidates for public office must be legally qualified to assume office at the time of filing. McLellan and Jayne were not, so even if they should win, their election will be challenged since they would not be legally qualified to assume office.
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10 comments
Thanks for posting that comment even though it was so short.
Cheers.
Don Schmidt wrote: Steve you may or may not be aware that Jayne has lived in Yelm near the post office for several years now. Most people who attend the theater know this. It is common
knowledge.
Steve Klein replied to Don Schmid: Matters not what “most people who attend the theater” know about Jayne’s residency, Don. The ONLY thing that matters is what Yelm Council Candidate Cameron Cassidy Jayne (her official voter registered name) has reported to the Thurston County Auditor as her voting and mailing address, both of which were changed to near the Post Office on May 14, 2009, not one year prior to the election as required by the laws of the State of Washington and the City of Yelm.
Jayne to Steve Checkin in…
And you wouldn’t think I checked on this before I took oath to run for office?(;
Many people do not update their residency addresses if they already have a po box in Yelm. After deciding to run, I changed everything at the auditors office to be official.
This does not disqualify me if in truth I have been living in Yelm for over 3 years. As a woman and in my entertainment profession for decades, I don’t usually advertise to the general public my whereabouts (for security and privacy issues) but it is common knowledge to many.
Now that I am running for office, transparency in all ways is paramount. So Steve, FYI, I have been a roommate for years with one of our senior volunteers of the theater and a dear friend, because of convenience and safety and location to the theater. I am across the street from the post office. Now you know.
Election records show that you participated in the November 2018 General Election and the February 2019 Special Election, affirming under penalty of perjury, that your permanent residence at the time was in a precinct outside the city limits in unincorporated Thurston County. Election records also indicated that your permanent residence and mailing addresses were updated May 14, 2019.
The Revised Code of Washington 35A.12.030 (RCW) as adopted by Yelm Municipal Code: 1.02.040 (YMC) requires, “No person shall be eligible to hold elective office under the mayor-council plan (of government) unless the person is a registered voter of the city at the time of filing a declaration of candidacy and has been a resident of the city for a period of at least one year next preceding his election.”
Bottom line: Having a declared residency and voting in a precinct outside the city limits in unincorporated Thurston County in Nov. 2018 and Feb. 2019 indicate you were not registered as “a resident of the city for a period of at least one year next preceding the 2019 election.”
First of all, it doesn’t matter what Steve thinks or anyone else, the Thurston County Auditor recognizes Jayne as a resident of Yelm. That said, as her sister, I can report that she has lived in a Yelm apartment near the post office for at least the past 4 years. The three of us sisters own a rural property off 93rd avenue. One of us actually lives there. Jayne has not done so for at least 4 years. She does store things in a bungalow there, but there is no food or other necessities of life kept there. Even the water is turned off. If I want to reach her and she doesn’t answer her cell, I call the Yelm apartment. That’s where I look for her. I live in Tenino, but keep that rural property address in addition to my PO Box for my banking, car registration, etc as that’s where I lived upon first moving to the area and there was no compelling reason to change it. I expect that is why Jayne continued to use that address in addition to her PO Box.
Jayne’s been living at my apartment for almost 5 years to my recollection. If that is not her in the back bedroom, then a stranger is in my house…and has been for a long time and probably can demand squatters rights. I may be in trouble.
Dear Steve and community: My sisters and I co-own the property where Jayne has received her som eof her mail since moving to Yelm. I am the resident here. Jayne has not lived at this address for at least 4 years. As family, it is easy enough for me to collect my sisters’ mail. When I want to drop something off to Jayne, I find her at the apartments across the street from the Post Office, or at the theater. She has had no reason to change her address until she decided to run for office since I collect her mail and bring it to her or notify her by text. Nothing to see here.
Listen folks, I am “the messenger” in providing information, not impugning Jayne’s address. In my opinion as a blogger, voters have the right to know and this kind of election issue has been previously reported in Seattle and other precincts around the country. Candidates not properly registering their permanent residential address in the jurisdiction where they are running for office is up to the voters. However, if either candidate Mr. McLellan or Ms. [Cameron] Jayne win, their election(s) could be challenged for not accurately updating their records, also done elsewhere.
Regarding Jayne’s residency… those of us who know her and have worked on projects with her are aware that the pipes burst in her cabin about 5 years ago, and she has resided within the Yelm city limits ever since.
Voters have the right to know the truth… Yes!
So, get your facts straight.
Bob
Here are the straight facts stated again:
Election records show that Cameron Cassidy Jayne participated in the November 2018 General Election and the February 2019 Special Election, affirming under penalty of perjury, that her permanent residence at the time was outside the city limits in unincorporated Thurston County’s Berry Valley precinct 193.
Upon further review, election records of the Thurston County Auditor’s Office indicated that a change of residency was updated May 14, 2019, from having a permanent residence address in precinct 193 in unincorporated Thurston County to precinct 703 in Yelm’s city limits. This reflects only two possible explanations: that candidate Jayne does not currently possess the qualifications required by law to assume office if elected, or that she knowingly falsified information in recent elections, or on her declaration of candidacy for Yelm City Council. I have requested a response from the candidate which has not been answered. That an explanation be provided is in the public’s and voter’s interests. Ms. Jayne can have as many witnesses as she wants state they know she has lived in Yelm city limits for years, however her permanent residence she affirmed as true and correct has also been outside of Yelm city limits since 2011 and from where she has voted until May 14, 2019, which is under 5 months prior to the election, where declaring/registering one’s permanent residence in the city for at least one year is required by law.
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