WA: Judge to rule in Wash. gov. election trial (on Monday, June 6th)

Bakersfield Californian ^ | 6/2/05 | Rebecca Cook - AP

[jonrick46]

It is also evident that other county auditors found errors, but did not certify their results until their errors were reconciled. This is something that King County election officials failed to do even though they knew better.

[jonrick46]

Are you thinking of a double meaning for the word "D-Day?" Heh! Heh! DemonRat-Day? It certainly won't be a day for Democracy if Christine GreGORE's election stands.

The verdict should come Monday morning.

[Republican Wildcat]

No - appeals from State Supreme Courts go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

[hoagy62]

I wouldn't worry about the 9th Circus. They are NOT part of the equation. If the Dims tried it, they'd be dead meat.

There's ONLY two outcomes here: The Dems win, Fraudoire remains governor, and the state goes to Hell. OR...Election is overturned, and we vote again. If Judge Bridges gives it to Rossi outright, Dino has already said he will accept nothing less than a re-vote. He does NOT want the Governorship handed to him. He has said numerous times since the election that all he wants is for the PEOPLE to send him to Olympia...nothing and no one else.

[hoagy62]

If the judge rules our way, count on an appeal to the WA State Supreme.

If the State Supreme rules in our favor, look for a re-vote in November. Rossi has said publicly that he won't accept the governorship outright. He wants a re-vote.

If the Dems try an appeal to the USSC, I doubt they'll take it.

[jonrick46]

The Republicans made their case stronger when the Dems rolled out their witnesses. There was a long list of county auditors from all over the state who told about discrepancies in their election results. Every one of them told about how they reconciled their discrepancies and followed state law to the letter. Testimony from the King County elections officials told a different story: the discrepancies were ignored and state law was not followed.

The Dems case that they found felon voters in pro-Rossi counties fell short on one important point: these felon voters never went through the validation process that is necessary to be used as evidence in court. They will never be able to make their case on this point in this court nor in the State Supreme Court, if they try to test their case there.

Bob Williams, head of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, said on John Carlson's show on KVI that the Dems sealed their fate yesterday with the testimony from Dean Logan and today from Prof. Handcock, Nixon Handy, and Linda Sanchez. He said that Dem witnesses further revealed that King County negligently administered the election, and that negligence resulted in errors that were greater than the margin of victory. King County's apparent unwillingness to take strong action in light of that negligence reinforced their case.

Evergreen Freedom Foundation has a list of the 2004 election that were clear violations of Washington state law:


On nine occasions, King County elections officials discovered unsecured ballots and added them to the total count.

437 provisional ballots (ballots that by law must be checked to see if the registration is valid) were counted without first being verified. In King County, at least 348
provisional ballots were fed directly into the vote-counting machine. In Pierce County, 77 provisional ballots were counted at the polling places without verification in
violation of state law. In Stevens County, approximately 12 provisional ballots were cast by individuals who were not eligible to vote (nine because they had never registered to vote and three because their registrations had been canceled).


An estimated 3,500 duplicate absentee ballots were mailed to voters. After the error was discovered, King County advised the voters to vote on one ballot and discard the other.


At least 1,108 convicted felons, whose voting rights had not been restored, voted.


At least 45 dead people voted.


At least 15 people voted twice.


At least 30 federal write-in ballots with a straight party line vote were not counted in the governor’s race in King County.


Eighty-nine voters voted in King County whose registration date on the King County voter files was after the deadline for registering to vote. However, their voter
registration deadline was changed to a date before the deadline sometime between December 29, 2004, and January 11, 2005. King County explained this as a human error. A 100 percent check of the actual voter registration should be made. This can only be done during “discovery” in a lawsuit.


A “no” ballot was counted as a vote for Gregoire.


A “Christine Rossi” ballot was counted as a vote for Gregoire.


55,177 ballots were “enhanced,” and 4,962 were duplicated in King County.


Virtually no procedures were used to verify whether a person who voted was actually eligible to vote.


When the Secretary of State certified the election on December 30, at least 8,419 more votes were counted in five counties than the number of voters who had cast votes. The law says there must be a legal voter for every vote counted.

[steve86]

Is that an earring I see. I cant believe it

Yes, as noted in local media. However, it is a little anomalous as they say the judge isn't otherwise given to counter-cultural (or popular culture, take your pick) displays or orientations.

[Eva]

Thanks for the update. According to your analysis, Christine Gregoire should be packing her bags.

[Nataku X]

Rossi WILL lose this ruling and Washington will be Gregorie's b---- until the next election. Yeah, yeah... the evidence is solidly on Rossi's side, but in the end, a good judge or lawyer can read anything they want in the law!

[EQAndyBuzz]

"This judge is not going to nullify the final recount and send it back for a revote. I hope I am wrong, but I just don't see it happening."

What the judge should do is say that the second machine recount is it and Rossi is declared the winner. How can the Democrats say it all was an honest mistake, then turn around and say it was human error? Well if it is humen error, isn't the hand recount also human error?

[planekT]

Thanks for the info.

[bboop]

Chelan is pretty conservative.

[planekT]

Rossi is taking the high ground then by insisting on a re-vote. Good for him.

Washington in not my state, but I know how I would feel if this had happened where I live. I would not be a happy camper. I'd at least want to see the garbage cleaned up in King county. A few rats behind bars would be nice.

[Delphinium]

Fingers crossed!

Will that work?, I am going to pray.