Free Republic

With budget difficulties and the recent election fiasco front and center in the public debate, a lesson in semantics may not be high on Olympia’s priority list, but sadly it is apparently needed. Consider the impact that just one little word’s meaning has on a variety of state laws and directives: “shall.” If “shall” means “must,” then all the statutes that state something “shall” happen should actually occur, otherwise the law has been violated. If “shall” instead means “may” or has the discretion, then a host of state statutes are merely filler on paper as there is no requirement that...

Bellevue, WA – An internal e-mail adds to the evidence that the King County elections department knew about No Signature On File (NSOF) ballots well before it claimed to have discovered its “mistake.” King County rejected more than 700 ballots because it didn’t have signatures on file to match the signatures on the ballots. On Nov. 3, 2004, an e-mail sent to King County Elections Superintendent Bill Huennekens included a list of NSOF voters. A copy of the e-mail is attached. But in December, when news of the NSOF ballots became public, King County Elections Director Dean Logan, Huennekens’ boss,...

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- An effort to recall Secretary of State Sam Reed will not move forward, after a Thurston County Superior Court judge ruled Monday that allegations Reed mishandled the contested governor's race did not meet the legal threshold to put a recall before state voters. Martin Ringhofer, a Boeing Co. employee, and Seattle resident Linda Jordan argued that mistakes made by Reed led to Democrat Christine Gregoire ultimately winning a third count and the election by 129 votes. But Judge Chris Wickham ruled that each of the nine charges brought by Ringhofer and Jordan were either legally or factually...

Reality check on election contest rulings Gregoire & Dems lose most motions; New election still possible Bellevue, WA – Yesterday in Chelan County Superior Court, the Dino Rossi campaign won an overwhelming victory in Rossi’s election contest case. The judge rejected the Democratic Party’s efforts to throw the case out, allowing a trial to move forward, and although he specifically denied the Rossi campaign’s request for a revote, he left the path clear for nullifying the 2004 gubernatorial election. If the election is nullified, there will be a vacancy in the governor’s office and a new election must be held....

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Whoever wins the legal challenge to the governor's election, the citizens of Washington will pay. In fact, they're already paying. The state expects to spend about $200,000 of taxpayer money on private lawyers defending the Secretary of State's office. And every county auditor and prosecutor is spending thousands of taxpayer dollars in staff time to respond to the Republicans' lawsuit challenging the 129-vote victory of Gov. Christine Gregoire. Some say the lawsuit is bleeding resources from other areas of government. Republicans, convinced the election was irredeemably tainted, say the challenge is worth the cost. "We don't...

EFF launches two new projects to ensure free and fair elections in Washington state Foundation releases recommendations to legislators; prepares detailed report on 2004 election OLYMPIA—The Evergreen Freedom Foundation (EFF) has launched two new projects: The Voter Integrity Project (VIP) and Grassroots Washington (GW). The purpose of both projects is to help restore the free and fair elections that are indispensable to political freedom, secure the sanctity of the ballot, and restore public confidence in our voting system. EFF estimates both projects will span two years. This announcement coincides with EFF’s release of election reform recommendations to the legislature. The...

Yesterday we had a rousing rally at our state capitol. Over 200,000 people have signed a petition for a re-vote in the governor's race in Washington State. In addition approximately 2,500 people came to support the re-vote. Gregoire had at best 200 supporters. There was a good number of the media there, but of course, particularly in the early reports they diminished our numbers. We videotaped the entire event. If interested please go to the following link to view. Washington State ReVote Video

The discovery late Monday of 561 votes in the still-ongoing Washington State governor's race had both state and GOP officials crying foul yesterday, with Secretary of State Sam Reed saying that vote fraud is a possibility. Asked if he thought the eleventh-hour vote find could be fraudulent, Reed told KTTH Seattle radio host Mike Siegel, "You want to look at that, just because it's so late in the process and the impact it could have on the outcome of this race." Washington State is currently undergoing it's second ballot recount in a race where Republican Dino Rossi won the initial...

November 29, 2004 Gregoire's illegitimate recount As Seth notes below, John Fund asks in today's WSJ Opinion Journal "Will Democrats steal the Washington governorship?" Well they're certainly going to try. I heard on KUOW this morning (can't find any report on line) that Gregoire will definitely ask for a hand recount this week. How should the Republicans respond? First, it's important to reiterate that Dino Rossi won two statewide counts; even after the Gregoire people won all of their legal and procedural fights to obtain certain unfair advantages; even after they were permitted to hand in questionable (and in...