Posted on 04/10/2005 1:43:51 PM PDT by Publius
The discovery of uncounted ballots in a King County elections facility could change the tenor of the governor's-election lawsuit, and it comes just as Republicans fine-tune their case in the final weeks before trial and drop some previously high-profile claims.
Already, attorneys for both sides say the news of 94 uncounted, valid absentee ballots means scrambling to change plans for last-minute collection of evidence.
They will expand the list of officials they want to question under oath and will change the nature of questions they'll ask King County's top two election officials, who were already scheduled for depositions.
News of the latest foul-up could also allow Republicans to introduce the prospect of fraud by election officials.
"This raises a flag that wasn't there publicly before," said J. Vander Stoep, an attorney and adviser to Republican candidate Dino Rossi.
So far, Republicans have been careful not to mention fraud in the courtroom or in legal filings, though backers of Rossi have not been nearly as restrained in the public-relations realm as they attack Democrat Christine Gregoire's 129-vote victory.
The possibility of fraud comes not from a specific allegation but from a so far unexplained statistic:
Out of 91 missed ballots whose precincts were known last week, 61 were cast in precincts Rossi won in November.
Given that Gregoire won King County by a 58-40 split and led the final results in about 70 percent of all the county's 2,616 precincts, Republicans find it suspicious that so many of the uncounted ballots came from Rossi strongholds.
"Can it be random error?" Vander Stoep asked. "What are the odds of that being chance?"
King County elections spokeswoman Bobbie Egan said no one should jump to conclusions about why the ballots weren't counted.
"There is no evidence at this point of fraud," she said yesterday. "We must wait for the external investigation by election professionals to conclude how these ballots were handled."
Republicans do not need to prove fraud by election officials to get the election overturned by Judge John Bridges, the Chelan County Superior Court judge presiding over the lawsuit.
So far the case focuses on alleged widespread illegal voting by felons and enough errors by election workers to show Gregoire was not the legitimate winner.
"The focus of the trial will be on whether or not we can reliably say who won," Vander Stoep said. "On that basis, new ballots showing up makes it far easier for the judge to say, 'We don't know.' "
Democratic Party attorney Kevin Hamilton laughed at the allegation.
"Now the theory is what? Somehow they went through Rossi precincts and stuffed ballots under the rug so they wouldn't get counted?" he said. "I'm sorry to laugh. But it's so implausible.
"The fact that they are raising this issue at this point suggests to me they have lost confidence in their case."
As Republicans consider whether to introduce the prospect of fraud, they are dropping other, well-publicized claims in their lawsuit.
Last week Republican attorneys told their Democratic counterparts Rossi was dropping two claims: that election officials failed to mail military ballots on time and that King County used illegal methods to enhance ballots that could not be read by vote-counting machines.
"It's a question of time and resources," Vander Stoep said. "We're at a point now where we're having to choose between valid claims. Which ones are the strongest.
"We're having to make hard decisions based upon what gives us the best likelihood in the shortest period of time to prevail."
Republicans have just this week to file with the court a list of all expert witnesses they plan to have testify during the May trial.
Of the claims Republicans have dropped, military ballots were among the more high-profile allegations.
Rossi's initial legal challenge filed in January claimed, "Military overseas and other absentee voters may not have received or been sent their absentee ballots in a timely manner and could have been disenfranchised by the neglect, mistake, or error of election officials."
Soon after the November election, state Republican Party officials said several members of the military, including some serving in Iraq, had told them they wanted to vote but didn't receive ballots in time.
In December, Rossi held a news conference alongside the parents of Tyler Farmer, a Marine wounded in Iraq who didn't get his ballot until the day after the election. A news release from Rossi that day was headlined, "With so many disenfranchised military voters, how can this be a fair election?"
Republicans featured Farmer's story in a radio ad that called for a re-vote in the governor's election. A rally, promoted by conservative talk-show hosts, was held near Fort Lewis to protest the alleged disenfranchisement of military voters.
"It's sort of the loose-cannon approach to litigation," Hamilton, the Democrats' attorney, said. "They file litigation with a loud, flamboyant press conference, and then there's no 'there' there."
But Charles Farmer, Tyler's father, said yesterday he was glad he and his son played a role in Rossi's effort.
He said he knew the issue of military ballots wasn't likely to be part of the final legal battle because his son's commanding officer had told him the Marines would not want to get involved in a political dispute and have to testify about military personnel who didn't receive ballots.
He said he understands and supports the Marines in that, but still thinks it is a shame that stories of what he believes are hundreds of Marines and soldiers unable to vote won't be part of the trial.
"I believe wholeheartedly that Dino Rossi won this election, and it was stolen and he should be governor," Farmer said. "But most importantly, I'd like to have seen my son have the chance to vote."
The governor's election lawsuit
The basics
Filed: Jan. 7 in Chelan County Superior Court.
Petitioners: Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi, state Republican Party Chairman Chris Vance and Rossi supporters.
Claim: The election of Gov. Christine Gregoire, a Democrat, should be nullified because of illegal votes and errors by election workers.
Key issues
Illegal votes: Will Republicans have to prove which candidate received each illegal vote? Will Democrats be able to cite votes and errors that improperly benefited Rossi?
Errors: How will Judge John Bridges factor evidence of improperly counted provisional ballots, mishandled absentees, vote tallies that don't add up and other mistakes by election workers?
Appeal: Regardless of the outcome in Bridges' court, the case is expected to be appealed to the state Supreme Court.
Upcoming in the case
Wednesday: Pretrial motions are due.
Friday: Republicans must submit final lists of alleged illegal votes and errors by election officials and disclose list of witnesses.
Next week: King County officials will be questioned under oath by attorneys for both sides.
April 20: Final replies to pretrial motions are due.
May 2: The judge will hold a hearing on pretrial motions.
May 6: Democrats must submit final lists of alleged illegal votes and errors and disclose witness lists.
May 20: Cutoff for evidence gathering for both sides.
May 23: The trial begins.
Ping.
Suspicious? It was highly predictable.
The plot unravels...
A few here, a few there and soon you're talking real victory.(fraud)
I shied away from fraud for a very long time, arguing that it was a snafu rather than premeditation that caused Gregoire to win. Finally, I was forced to accept that this election was stolen by the Democrats using slightly more sophisticated methods than the usual Tammany-style ballot box stuffing.
FYI
Here's hoping that Fraudoire is finally gets out of office to the usual demoncRAT trickery finally getting caught.
2,616 precincts
129 vote majority. So much room for "error."
"We've been "Disenfranchised",
doesn't apply to military voters...
Democrats ------- the NEW Nazi Party.
Semper Fi
Of course, if Hillary gets in...
Gregoire, Sims, Logan, Reed, and Maleng are all as corrupt as it gets, anti-American commmies who through fraud, "won" the election. It doesn't get any dirtier than this short of trying to kill, like what happened in the Ukraine recently.
They should all be serving 10-20 at best.
This whole dam thing is pathetic. They are finding so many screw ups in KingCo, the the pubbies can't even amend the complaints fast enough!
I also like the way they suspended the four election workers WITH PAY.
If they had just cut them lose, they'd be squealing like stuck pigs.
Is there no one, NOT A SINGLE ELECTION WORKER IN KINGCO WHO HAS ANY INTEGRITY LEFT?
The latest snafu: Theres a special election going on later this month. A whole bunch of absentees were sent out. A large number of them that went to the military folks HAD NO BALLOTS INSIDE THE ENVELOPES.
From what I hear, KINGCO knew about the 93 ballots when they delivered the certification.
I wish Ralph Munro was still in Oly. He'd a made mincemeat out of these jokers.
If the United States Marines ever became involved in a political dispute, I would be diving under the nearest rug.
You're mixing apples with oranges.
Ron Sims is an old-style corrupt political boss who will do whatever is necessary to insure his exercise of power.
Christine Gregoire is the recipient of Sims' corrupt largesse but is better skilled at positioning herself in the middle than Sims is.
Dean Logan is incompetant, incapable either of fulfilling the law or of pulling off a foolproof corrupt election.
Sam Reed is caught between the state constitution, which defines his job as being ministerial rather than judicial, and supervising a clean election.
Norm Maleng should change parties. He's a "Scoop Jackson" Democrat and doesn't fit in the "new, improved. politically correct Democratic Party."
The key sentence.
According to Stefan Sharkansky, several months ago some election workers went to the FBI and made depositions. But Sims has insulated himself as well as any Mafia don, so it's impossible to trace this one all the way to the top.
I think Stefan might be on KING5 later today. Not sure of the name of the show. There might be some info at SoundPolitics.com
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