Judge Allows New GOP Allegations of Fraud in Washington Governor's Race

By Rebecca Cook Associated Press Writer

Published: May 24, 2005 WENATCHEE, Wash. (AP) - A top King County elections official on Tuesday denied knowing about an absentee ballot report allegedly falsified by county workers while counting ballots in the 2004 governor's election.

Elections Superintendent Bill Huennekens, testifying in a challenge to Washington state's 2004 gubernatorial election, said the Democratic-leaning county that includes Seattle had absentee ballots but added: "I don't know that we have an exact number."

He also acknowledged the report did not include 96 unopened, uncounted ballots that county workers found while going through boxes last month.

Republicans are trying to prove election errors and fraud stole the election from Republican Dino Rossi. They want Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges to nullify the 129-vote victory of Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire, prompting a new election.

Over objections from Democrats, Bridges has said he will allow Republicans to present evidence about fraud and King County's inability to match votes to voters.

The county recorded several hundred more votes than it has voters. Democrats had tried to block that evidence, saying Republicans brought it up too late.

"I don't believe the claim is new," Bridges said Tuesday, but added: "The court is not in a position at this time to determine that these are illegal votes."

In his opening statement Monday, GOP attorney Dale Foreman called the evidence "overwhelming that there was unbelievable neglect in King County and, we believe, outright fraud by high-ranking King County officials."

He said the state's electoral system "is broken and it must be fixed. This case is our effort to fix that problem in the long run, and to right a wrong in the short run."

"There is no question who won this election," Democratic attorney Kevin Hamilton said in his opening statement, standing by a poster-sized copy of the certification of Gregoire's election. Instead of fraud, Hamilton said, the GOP is presenting "a loose collection of administrative errors.

They shouldn't be going for a new election. They should aim to have the hand count ruled inaccurate, and to go with the final machine count as the decider of the election. Gregoire should be arrested and charged with fraudulently assuming the Governor's office and impersonating an elected official.

IMHO, election workers should be required to be able to prove by clear and compelling evidence that their election results are correct. Honest and competent people should have no difficulty meeting that requirement. If election officials can't prove that their results are correct, how can anyone rightly claim victory?

It is not unreasonable to require that ballots should neither disappear into thin air, not appear out of nowhere, nor even go missing and then later be "found". If a stack of 'n' ballots disappears, that creates an uncertainty of +/- 'n' in the results. If a stack of ballots appears out of nowhere and is mixed in with other ballots, that also creates an uncertainty of +/- 'n'. If a stack of ballots goes missing and reappears without proper chain of custody, the uncertainty will be +/- 'n' if the ballots are ignored, or +/- 2n if the ballots are mixed in with other ballots.

If proper procedures are followed when conducting an election, the uncertainty will be +/- 0. The way King County has handled its elections, the uncertainty is in the thousands.

IMHO, if the level of uncertainty in an election exceeds the margin of victory, there should be a revote with the costs of the revote assessed to counties in proportion to the number of 'uncertain' votes therein, up to a maximum of $500 per 'uncertain' vote. If the total number of uncertain votes, assessed at $500 each, would not yield enough revenue for a repeat election, general state revenue should pay the balance.

"Thanks. I searched, but somehow it never works."

In the search engine just put in Rossi and then make sure it is on Keyword and click search. Just about all the threads in regards to this case will come up if already posted. That is if the person who posts the thread puts Rossi as a Keyword which they should do.

[Democrats and their lawyers scoffed at the GOP's fraud allegations. "There is no question who won this election," Democratic attorney Kevin Hamilton said in his opening statement...]

Meanwhile, local talk radio host (and former gubernatorial candidate) John Carlson was pointing to recent polls that say 18% more WA voters believe Rossi won than Gregoire. Really an amazing number when you think about it.

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