Posted on 01/04/2005 12:37:46 AM PST by nickcarraway
GOP calls on counties to explain a discrepancy of nearly 8,500
Thousands of "mystery voters" in the counties of King, Pierce, Snohomish, Clark and Kitsap appear to be Republican Dino Rossi's best prospect for challenging the legitimacy of the closest and most contentious gubernatorial election in the state's history.
The state Republican Party yesterday called on county election officials to explain what the GOP says is a nearly 8,500-vote discrepancy between county vote tallies and the number of people credited with actually voting in the election.
"People ask me what would fraud look like? It would look like this," said state Republican Party Chairman Chris Vance.
County auditors and election officials say Republicans have based their conclusions on there being many more votes than voters on preliminary lists, and they say much of the deviation would be accounted for as voter lists are updated.
But they do not dispute that the numbers don't add up.
And most agree they never will.
"At the end of this, it's never going to match one to one given the volume," said Dean Logan, elections director of King County, which counted about 900,000 votes.
The current number is "larger than I'm comfortable with," Logan said. But based on historical data, he expects the reconciled lists to include 1,000 to 1,500 more votes than voters accounted for even after the lists are reconciled.
Logan said those unaccounted-for votes would likely be from military voters who cast federal write-in ballots and the 76 people in King County who participate in the Address Confidentiality Program.
"I think this is sort of the issue du jour," Logan said. "There has been no evidence of any voter fraud. The differences on the lists are not, in and of themselves, indication that there was."
Vance said that's outrageous.
"You simply can't have more votes counted than you have voters," Vance said. "The counties have to come up with a plausible explanation for this and if they don't this election is invalid on its face."
And Secretary of State Sam Reed again said that this issue could be used to contest the election.
Throughout the process, both parties have scrutinized even the smallest inconsistencies.
Democrat Christine Gregoire became governor-elect when a hand recount of nearly 2.9 million votes put her ahead of Rossi by 129 votes. Rossi had come out 261 votes ahead after the first machine count and 42 votes ahead after the mandatory mechanical recount.
Last week Republicans demanded that King County explain how its tally of votes counted exceeded the number of people listed as voting by 3,539. This week they found similar disparities in other populous counties.
Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey said he thinks that 553 of the 1,005 vote-to-voter discrepancy there will be accounted for when the list of inactive voters -- those who have not participated in recent elections -- is reconciled with those who did in fact turn out in November.
But he has no plans to try to account for 452 extra poll, absentee and provisional votes.
"It would be a huge task," Kimsey said. "You are looking through 121,679 absentee ballots, affidavit envelopes and through poll books where 50,598 voters cast their ballots.
"The controls that are in place in the election process ensure that only registered voters are going to receive a ballot. While I understand the concern that comes from seeing two different numbers, the controls are at the front end."
Republicans contend that serious questions arise when results are certified before the voter lists are reconciled with the number of votes counted.
The counties say they don't because law does not require it.
Reed said that in each election, counties have a statutory requirement to record the names of all voters who cast ballots. He said that reconciling that list with the list of votes cast is an important quality-control measure.
Significant discrepancies could be of grave concern, he said.
"This is an issue that could potentially be used to contest the election," Reed said. "You'd have to make the point to the judge that it actually made a difference."
Carolyn Diepenbrock, Snohomish County elections manager, said the deviation in her lists is 388, not the more than 1,700 as the Republican's contend.
"We believe that the majority of those 388 are poll voters who signed in the poll book but actually voted a provisional ballot," Diepenbrock said.
She said the county would likely be able to update records as early as tomorrow.
King County officials said they would release completed lists Friday.
Pat McCarthy, Pierce County auditor, said she couldn't say how much the two lists deviated but she knows it's by less than the 1,640 Republicans contend.
She said that if the number were that big "it would have been a problem."
Rossi's spokeswoman Mary Lane said there's no excuse for certifying the election before these lists are reconciled. Otherwise, "we can't be certain that the number they certified is valid," Lane said.
"If someone wanted to commit voter fraud, this is one of the ways they could do it. When you have a number this huge, in an election this close, we need to have the answers and the counties need to provide those answers -- and the onus is on them right now."
One high-profile Republican, former Gov. Dan Evans, joined the chorus calling for a new election with an online essay published Friday.
"Democracy may be messy, but its principles are why it still serves us best," Evans wrote for the Web site www.revotewa.com. "If we screw up the implementation, let's go back to the principles. The voters' will is paramount."
He proposed a special election next month. Yesterday, Evans said his appetite for a revote depends heavily on how King County answers questions about the 3,500-vote difference between voter rolls and certified ballots.
"If they can explain that and there are no other significant errors, in spite of the fact of a close election, it's time to say 'OK, we'll accept it,' " Evans said.
I've been saying that. The whole state is so corrupt that we have to go outside. We need to bring more national attention to this. I heard that the Wall Street Journal did an editorial on our election.
We have to keep on this, otherwise we have lost this state and our vote forever.
Hmmm... The only thing I could think of off the top of my head is if you were a first time voter that forgot to bring ID to the polls and were given a provisional ballot until you could prove that you were there person that you claimed to be. If memory serves, an ID requirement is required for first time voters under federal law (HAVA).
The idea of 500 first-time voters not having any form of identification in any county at any time is kinda absurd though.
They should just resolve this by holding another State election.
Yup, it's called HYPOCRISY !!!!!!
For my money, I would prefer that Rossi lose in a tainted election with voters suspect of the Rats and then run in 06 against Maria Cantwell and beat her pants and further the Republican control of the Senate.
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Every democrat vote must count - even if they're fakes. Hey, that's the socialist/communist rules. Read the Marxist handbook.
The discrepancies have already been proved and the Dims have already commented on them. It is FACT that there is a large gap between voters and actual ballots; I'm not sure how going to a 'court' is going to prove anything that isn't already known.
The current number is "larger than I'm comfortable with," Logan said. But based on historical data, he expects the reconciled lists to include 1,000 to 1,500 more votes than voters accounted for even after the lists are reconciled.
WHAT??
bump
Bump for later
Wel, with that kind of attitude, I'm glad Bush won Ohio by such a large margin...
The cheaters have been caught!
They've always been able to count on the media, the courts and the roll-over-and-make-nice-so-the-media-won't-trash-us Republicans to sweep the evidence of their shenanigans under the rug. Until now, when the Dinosaur Media's monopoly has been broken. They've grown fat and lazy and weak as a result.
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