Posted on 11/12/2004 5:18:37 PM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
The state Democratic Party sued the King County Elections Department over its handling of special ballots in the neck-and-neck race for governor.
The lawsuit filed today in King County Superior Court would block election officials from discarding about 900 provisional ballots. Party officials said they hoped they could get a decision later in the day.
The action is the latest effort by backers of Republican Dino Rossi and Democrat Christine Gregoire to squeeze out any possible vote, with Rossi holding onto a razor-thin lead for the past three days.
"I'm now becoming very worried that the Democrats are going to try to turn this into Florida," said Chris Vance, chairman of the state Republican Party. "They're losing, and now they're grasping at straws."
Yesterday, Rossi held on to his lead of a fraction of 1 percent among more than 2.7 million ballots counted. After Pierce and Whitman counties released tallies of several thousand additional ballots yesterday, Rossi had a lead of about 3,600 votes.
Officials estimate that fewer than 85,000 ballots remain to be counted, mostly provisional ballots. It's likely this relatively small segment of ballots will decide the governor's race.
Now Democrats are challenging how King County is handling those ballots, which were given to voters who showed up at the polls on Election Day but whose names did not appear on voter lists.
Officials in King County, where Gregoire holds a strong lead, will not release to Democrats the names of voters whose provisional ballots have been deemed invalid, usually because county officials determined their ballot signatures did not match those on file or they weren't registered. King County officials say federal election law prohibits releasing that information to anyone but the voter.
However, other counties are releasing that information, political party officials said. And the parties are pursuing those disqualified voters, urging them to appeal the ballot rejection with their counties.
State Democratic Party Chairman Paul Berendt said yesterday that of the 20 counties that released the names, 19 are counties where Rossi leads.
Berendt acknowledged yesterday that it's possible as few as 200 or 300 ballots are at issue in King County. "That could very easily be the margin of victory," he said.
State Democrats plan to allege in King County Superior Court today that the county violated equal protection and public disclosure laws, said William Rava, a lawyer with the firm working for the party, Perkins Coie.
Rava said the county has misinterpreted the federal voting law and its jurisdiction over state law. The suit will request that the county be forced to give the party the list of rejected voters and to itself "actively contact" rejected voters, he said.
King County election officials could not be reached for comment on the suit last night.
King County is critical to Gregoire's hopes of regaining a lead in the race. Further, tradition holds that provisional ballots lean Democratic.
Morton Brilliant, Gregoire's spokesman, declined earlier yesterday to discuss whether the campaign itself plans to pursue the issue in court.
Both parties have access to names of mail-in voters whose ballots face rejection because they failed to sign their envelopes. And both are reaching out to those voters by phone, mail and home visits. King County mailed notices to those voters.
With provisional ballots, King County provided envelope stubs with unique reference numbers, Logan said. Voters were advised they could verify that their ballot was accepted by contacting the county by telephone or checking its Web site. They have until Tuesday afternoon to appeal any disqualifications, he said.
Provisional ballots are meant to ensure that mistakes by voters or election officials do not prevent registered voters from casting ballots.
Some are given to voters who go to the wrong precinct. Some are given to voters whose names don't show up on poll workers' lists because they are newly registered. Some voters cast such ballots because they lost their absentee ballots.
The slow processing of provisional ballots boils down to verification, duplication and tabulation.
Counties verify that the voter is indeed registered and check their signature with that on record, said Dean Logan, King County's elections director. They also make sure the voter didn't already vote elsewhere or via mail-in ballot.
In 2000, King County officials found 78 percent of such ballots were valid, Logan said. This year, Logan expects officials will approve 80 percent or more of the ballots.
If a voter cast a provisional ballot outside her or his actual precinct, election officials manually fill out a new ballot from the proper precinct, or "duplicate" it.
Finally, the ballots are counted.
They're trying to steal the election through lawsuits.
the DemosRATS have to keep their trial lawyers happy, no matter what the cost. And the Dems had a lot of money saved up to satisfy the legal leeches.
The Leftists won here in King County - The Judge apparently ordered the county to turn the list of names (those who's provisional ballots couldn't be verified) to the democrat party...
Keep in mind that these are people who's signatures don't match up with the ones on file, and the county said it was against the federal law to turn over the names...
Weird. They must be afraid...
It's a good thing I hung on to my Sore Loserman t shirts!
Ping!
what gives?
I see this afternoon that Dino leads by 600 votes.....
this is Demoncrap at its best.....
I wonder why Gorton didn't contest 4 yrs ago when Cantwell won by a very slim margin, mostly on the backs of provisional ballots....
if they decide that they will go the extra effort to accept poor ballots when they are usually tossed , then its just like Florida....accepting a differant type of voting that normally is not allowed.....
Trying to steal it. The only way they can win.
Where in Michigan? I've not heard a thing.
if it is aginst federal law - throw the POS scumbag judge into the federal pen! The "judge" is the cowardly criminal in this case --- oh, I forgot --- a "judge" is a scumbag lawyer too!
If the demo's didn't try (and too often succeed!) at cheating, this would not happen.
Notice also that IF THEYA RE BEHIND, democrats demand endles recounts.
If they are ahead, they demand instant "calls" for that state to be declared and that race closed!
Why am I not surprised?
Since when?
In an attempt to appear fair the Tacoma News Tribune printed up a faux endorsement for Rossi while praising Kerry. I bet they wish they could take that back.
They are very afraid.
Democrats (I don't know why they call themselves that since democracy is not good enough for them unless they win) are just a bunch of crybaby sore losers.
Rush pegged them perfectly on his show today when he mimicked them by saying " WAAAHHHH! I'm not playing anymore! I'm taking my ball and going to go play somewhere else!"
He was referring to this talk of succession by the democrat nit-wits. I'm sick and tired of listening to them cry and whine. We should just ignore them and move on to real issues that matter. Giving their cry baby rants attention will only prolong this stupidity comming out of the democrat special needs classroom, the people who claim to be so much smarter than everyone else.
What we are hearing is an example of their "superior intelect".
Democrats (I don't know why they call themselves that since democracy is not good enough for them unless they win) are just a bunch of crybaby sore losers.
Rush pegged them perfectly on his show today when he mimicked them by saying " WAAAHHHH! I'm not playing anymore! I'm taking my ball and going to go play somewhere else!"
He was referring to this talk of succession by the democrat nit-wits. I'm sick and tired of listening to them cry and whine. We should just ignore them and move on to real issues that matter. Giving their cry baby rants attention will only prolong this stupidity comming out of the democrat special needs classroom, the people who claim to be so much smarter than everyone else.
What we are hearing is an example of their "superior intelect".
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