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.
I live in a state south of you guys and I'm so mad about what's going on up there that I try not to think about it. I hope this Judge is better than those in Florida.
It's april.
This election is over.
... sad to say.
She got in.
She ain't leaving, and it's way past too late.
IMO, this is how the Rats won the Senate race against Gorton, by having these handy little ballots around, just in case...
I think the Rats are great at getting the college leftists to vote in elections where they live AND where they go to school, and if no one is going to catch them voting twice, what's the problem, right?
I have always maintained that Gorton should have had a recount when he lost....if he did, at least it would have put some pause to the Rat shnanigans........
they got to give them teachers more money and benefits no matter what, dontcha know.....
great update...thank you.
No way Jose.....It ain't over till the fat lady sings....and she's a singing her head off!
Copy that....by the time the re-vote election gets going, she will have passed massive tax increases.....
Scrupulously avoiding embroilment in partisan politics is part of the military's code of HONOR, and their ethic of SERVICE. Rossi's legal team understands the reluctance of the Corp to be involved in potentially deciding an election and has honored their scruples (even if, IMHO, overzealously applied in the present case) by refraining from subpoenaing military witnesses, even willing ones.
The 'Rat lawyer, OTOH, eagerly takes advantage of all this to as much as say the Marine who didn't get his ballot, and others like him, are liars, or that their uncounted/uncast votes don't matter.
How disgusting. How odious. But how like a 'Rat.
But but we have hilary and the gigolo out there whining about all the votes being counted. No mention of Washington tho......LOL
ping
And hopefully before the dims get their tax hike through, and on gas of all things!
1) if a ballot isn't in by Election Day, it doesn't get counted, period.
2) If anyone prevents a ballot from getting in (either through malice or incompetence, it doesn't matter), it's death or life w/o parole (either one will do).
Had been wondering about the latest on this matter. May truth prevail.
They have plenty of discipline. And, we have let them have their way with the polling process for so long, that they are very, very good at it.
"Can it be random error?" Vander Stoep asked. "What are the odds of that being chance?"
Uh, dare I suggest the odds might be 70-30?
I.e., better than 2:1?
While you are correct in stating that the US does not have an official language, this still does not give any credence to the use of multi-lingual ballots. The simple facts described below do however, negate the need for multi-lingual ballots:
1.By the time you reach voting age, those born in the United States speak english.
2.Per our immigration laws, you must be fluent in english in order to become an American citizen.
3.You must be an American citizen in order to participate in elections.
Therefore, anyone allowed to vote should be proficient in english.
Sorry, there are no "election professionals" in King County. They are all lying socialists. Remember what that great and powerful democrat Joe Stalin said: "It is not who casts the votes that count, rather the one that counts those votes." 'nuff said.
There may be some wisdom in paring down claims in the Chelan court.
The military disenfranchisement is indeed a very significant and valid issue that is not at all new or localized to Washington State. There was well-documented and deliberate hindrance to counting military ballots in Florida 2000. The Washington State military vote late mailing appears to be a pattern that is being set nationally by liberal partisan election offices for the simple reason that the military is a very conservative constituency.
The wisdom of dropping the military claims from the Washington State case is that it will enable the Federal government to pursue under 14th Amendment grounds a separate suit against King County and Washington state.
Evidence for not meeting military mailout deadlines by the King County elections office has centered around the existence of a military bulk mailing permit and its recording with the US Postal Service. As far as I know there has been no update on this finding other than denials by certain election office officials. Two facts have emerged that King County was warned for missing a deadline and King County was the last to mail our military ballots. The question is did they lie about when they mailed these ballots and did they indeed mail them later than they claimed they were mailed.
If there are elections persons that have been interviewed regarding the lateness of the military ballot mailing one can speculate that the Federal Government will be very interested in following up on the military issue after the case in the Chelan Court is heard.
In any event the Rossi case appears strong in its present form. Should Rossi prevail in Chelan this will only strengthen a Federal Government suit concerning the military.
I can feel confident that the antics of King County and others across the country regarding untimeliness and mishandling of military ballots will see a harsh response.
Felons vote, soldiers don't
Ping
Great news. When does the US Justice Department step in and investigate?
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