Like Colorado, there are equal protection problems here. I understand, however, that the Republican gave them up in order to fight this in the state senate.
Since ballots are secret, I suppose noone whose ballot has been rejected knows for sure that his ballot has been rejected. But the equal protection claim resides with the voter. If your ballot with a stray mark was counted, my ballot with a stray mark *MUST* be counted, too.
I completely agree with you about the equal protection aspect. Is there any reason the Republicans are not challenging this race in court based on the equal protection argument?