No longer a crime scene.
A possible crime scene. DAVID RYDER/GETTY IMAGES

In an email, a spokesperson for King County Elections said the department referred two "voter registration challenge" cases to the prosecutor's office after two cops who registered to vote at precincts each failed to respond to two letters asking them "update their address" or else "possibly" face a challenge.

County prosecutors will determine whether to file the registration challenge, which is just an administrative hearing to determine the facts of the case and then "make a decision on the voter registration."

The two officers involved are John Girtch and Terry Dunn. Elections lists Dunn's registration status as "inactive," which means he doesn't get a ballot mailed to him. According to a July report from the South Seattle Emerald, which broke the story last summer, Girtch registered at the West precinct and Dunn registered at the North precinct.

Girtch & Dunn, maybe the worst Western ever.

Dunn's a real winner, skirting discipline in a couple wild excessive force cases. Meanwhile, Girtch was one of three officers who reportedly jumped a 17-year-old for jaywalking.

A spokesperson for the Seattle Police Department said "both officers have separated from the department."

Here are the cops who registered at precincts.
Here are the cops who registered at precincts.

The five other officers who registered at a precinct rather than at their homes in an apparently felonious violation of state law include Susan Wong, Alan Bernstein, Denise "Cookie" Bouldin, John Bundy, and SPOG Prez Mike Solan.

Those five cops updated their registration after the Emerald published its story, according to King County Elections.

As a result of all this, the elections department will no longer accept voter registrations that use the addresses of the precincts associated with each of these cops, which leaves the southwest precinct as the last refuge for any officers who want to maybe commit a little voter fraud.

Last Friday a bunch of outlets reported on the results of a two-part Office of Police Accountability investigation of this issue, which concluded that "at least eight Seattle police officers violated Seattle Police Department policy" when they registered at their precincts. (Last summer, the Emerald reported that the eighth officer did not appear in the voter database, which means he may have "moved or changed addresses.")

As the Emerald noted in its summary, "the OPA meted out discipline recommendations of either a written reprimand or a one-day suspension without pay for these officers," excepting the three who declined an interview because they were "no longer employed with SPD."

As the Emerald also noted, SPD refused to conduct a criminal investigation of the possible felonies because a captain "erroneously" said she knew all the cops involved lived in Seattle and also because the elections department was "investigating." Furthermore, OPA director Andrew Myerberg said his reading of relevant state law meant his office couldn't "exercise its jurisdiction" to recommend discipline until the "Board of Elections" completed its "investigation" and then a prosecuting attorney landed a "plea or conviction."

An elections spokesperson said their department "would maybe quibble with the term 'investigation.'" They simply receive voter registration complaints and send the accused letters saying the department will forward the issue to a prosecuting attorney if they don't respond. Any real investigative authority lies with the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office.

So we'll see what that office does with these two cases. A spokesperson for Dan Satterberg's office confirmed receipt of the referrals and said prosecutors "plan to meet about them this month."