Free Republic

WENATCHEE, Wash. - Prosecutors, attorneys and state officials agree that the judge who will decide whether to nullify the 2004 Washington governor's election is hardworking and fair. But even in the small town where he grew up, Chelan County Superior Court Judge John E. Bridges remains a bit of mystery: He's not a joiner. He doesn't belong to the Rotary. He doesn't cut a high profile in Wenatchee's social circles. No one knows his political leanings. And no one knows - or no one's telling - the story behind the small diamond earring in the gray-haired judge's left ear, twinkling...

Two months late, Washington state has a governor. But was the election fair? ON JANUARY 12th, Christine Gregoire took the oath of office as Washington state's new governor. Nothing unusual in that, you might say. But the Democrat had been declared the winner only a few days beforehand, in what is by some reckonings the closest governor's race in America's history. And that tussle may well not be over yet. Ms Gregoire was not the initial winner: the first tally after the November 2nd vote put the Republican, Dino Rossi, 261 votes ahead. An automatic recount narrowed his margin to...

Washington State Republican Party leaders say they've found 8400 more ballots cast than the number of voters registered in the state's five largest counties. State GOP Chairman Chris Vance says the mismatching numbers in King, Pierce, Snohomish, Clark and Kitsap are troubling. Republican Dino Rossi won the first two counts in the governor's race, then lost a hand recount to Democrat Christine Gregoire by a mere 129 votes. Republicans are mulling a possible legal challenge to the election, and Vance says discrepancies like the ones they found so far are clear indications that things went wrong. County auditors have said...

Today, the Seattle Times has gone to the extraordinary length of publishing a list of the names and addresses of 1,555 voters (only in King County of course) whose absentee ballots were rejected due to signature problems. The newspaper is making an all-out effort to scrounge up every last vote for the Democrat candidate for governor.