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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.
Well, in my personal case, I called 3 times for an absentee ballot once I discovered that the elections department registered me in a city I've never lived in that was about an hour and a half away. They never did get me set up to vote absentee and I had to vote provisionally. Of course it's acceptable to defraud non-democrat voters in King County WA (where I live).
My personal guess is that Department of Justice will wait for the election contest to get decided. Once the obligatory appeal to the state supreme court is finished and the lawsuit is put to bed, I would expect Justice to act.
Sims and Logan, yes. Reed, perhaps, not proven yet, he's just proven to be a big wimp so far (although the fact that he once employed Dean Logan makes me wonder...).
But what's wrong with Maleng? He's got an impeccable reputation as far as I know, and that's coming from some R's I really respecta around here.
Hey, Ketchupboy, why aren't you out in Washington complaining about the voter fraud THERE???? Oh, yea, that's right -- it's only voter fraud if you can blame the EEEE-V-IIII-L Republicans!! What a hypcrite!!!!
"During the count I kept having the sense of Paul Berendts and Crew on the edge of their chairs saying among themselves, "But was it ENOUGH? Did we do ENOUGH?""
LOL! Enough felons, enough dead people...
I wondered myself where all those mysterious votes came from during THREE RECOUNTS.
"Gregoire is not our governor. Never has been."
DITTO and AMEN!!!!
P.S. And I resent the media calling her "governor"
Thank you for posting this! I voted to have another election.
BTW, would anyone know just how "blue" our state was in the general election? The moderate east half of WA state wants to form a new state and I'm curious about the overall picture.
Thanks!
The Cascades make a fine dividing line. Blue to the west, red to the east. I'd recommend visiting the Washington Secretary of State's website to research the exact percentages.
As soon as I started reading your post a light went off and I totally agree with you. KC was warned by the Feds not all that long ago. I recall reading on soundpolitics recently that Stefan was still trying to get the mailing dates for the military ballots. KC provided some info some time back but, while I think it may have satisfied the MSM, it left a lot of questions about how many were actually sent and when.
There's also that story I posted some time back about the guys that were felons and working at places that mail the ballots and/or worked on the computer system. Supposedly that was a while ago, but haven't heard any more about that either. All in all a lot of suspecious activity (to say the least).
The government's defense should be that the plaintiff can't prove there are any brains in King County to harvest.
If somenone where to come in to Seattle and turn on the lights....the roaches exposed would be in the millions.....
ping me
This election screams out for a re-vote and soon. If nothing is done it will be another black mark on our justice system.
John Kerry - will you denounce this election fraud?
After you sign the Form 180, I mean.
I don't understand why the Republicans drop the issue of Democrats preventing the military from voting. They did it in Florida, too, in 2000. It seems to be a common tactic. It also strikes me as something that would strike a chord with the voters.
Sure there are other issues too, but why drop this one?
LOL. By withholding your vote, you are effectively giving an equal portion of your vote to all parties, which means you are favoring all parties (mainly Republicans and Democrats, of course) in equal proportion. You can't get away from it. You have a vote and not voting is merely one way to use it. This would make perfect sense if you don't care whether the Democratic agenda or Republican agenda is implemented. If you are completely ambivalent in regards to, for example, gay marriage or abortion.
Thanks for keeping us updated!
Don't get to comfy Christine...your butt won't be in the chair long enough to warm it up....
King County....A nation unto itself...
Please add me to your ping list.
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