UPDATED STORY:
http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_050205_politics_rossi_hearing.23573df81.html
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By REBECCA COOK, Associated Press
SEATTLE - Republicans have won a victory in their challenge to the election of Washington Governor Christine Gregoire.
AP File
Washington gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi.
Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges said Republicans will be allowed to use "proportional analysis" to prove their case that illegal votes swayed the election.
Republican Dino Rossi is challenging the election of Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire. Rossi, a former state senator and real estate investor, won the first count and machine recount. But Gregoire, formerly the state’s attorney general, won by 129 votes in a hand recount of 2.9 million ballots.
Trial is scheduled to start May 23. On Monday, Bridges heard pretrial motions that will determine what evidence and arguments the parties will be allowed to use during the two-week trial. Though the state Supreme Court will ultimately decide the election challenge, Bridges’ decisions now will shape the case.
The state Republican Party intervened on Rossi’s side and the state Democratic Party intervened on the state’s side, defending the election. Republicans are focussing on King County, the state’s most populous, where election officials have acknowledged mistakes that allowed some people to vote illegally while not counting other, legal votes.
One of the biggest questions Bridges has to answer is how, exactly, Republicans will have to prove their case. State law includes provisions for challenging and nullifying an election — but they’ve never been used to try to kick a governor out of office.
Republicans claim they’ve identified more than 1,000 illegal votes — mostly felons, but also unverified provisional ballots and a few dead voters. They want the court to subtract illegal votes from both candidates’ totals according to precinct voting patterns. For example, if 10 illegal votes came from a precinct that voted 60 percent for Gregoire and 40 percent for Rossi, the Republicans would deduct six votes from Gregoire and four from Rossi. Most of the illegal votes Republicans have identified come from King County, which went 58 percent for Gregoire.
Republicans call this method “proportional analysis.”
Democrats argue against it, saying it amounts to statistical guessing. At the same time, they’ve been collecting evidence of illegal votes in Rossi-leaning counties, and plan to use the same “proportional analysis” as evidence in court of illegal Rossi votes.
Both sides have acknowledged that whatever happens in Chelan County, the case will ultimately be decided by the state Supreme Court. Either side could appeal any of Bridges’ rulings, which could delay the start of the trial.
And it's not being used here. From everything I've read here, the real governor of Washington is the plaintiff.
Congratulations, Washington Freepers!
"Either side could appeal any of Bridges’ rulings, which could delay the start of the trial."
Although this (May 23rd court date) offers a fairly small window, I fully expect the Democrats to appeal this ruling to the State Supreme court.
"Porportional Analysis" Call me old fashioned but I think actual votes should be counted, not some statistical analysis. Especially when this is so close. I don't think this would have flown with Freepers if Gore had tried something like this in FL (he even may have if I recall).
and after a box of ballots was found in a woman''s bathroom - weeks after the election - and many other "Oops" ballots that had "somehow" been previously overlooked