In his ruling Monday in Wenatchee, Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges said Republicans will be allowed to present “proportional analysis” to prove their case that illegal votes swayed the election. He cautioned that he’s not agreeing that the argument would work in the trial beginning in three weeks. Only that Republicans can use the argument.
Later, Bridges delivered another ruling, this one favoring Democrats. Bridges says parties will not be able to use county records known as crediting records to prove who voted. Democrats argued there are too many errors in the records and the judge agreed.
Republicans will be able to argue that about one-thousand illegal votes, mostly by felons, should be subtracted in proportion to the votes for governor in a precinct. That is, if there were ten illegal votes in a precinct that voted 60 percent for Gregoire then six should be subtracted from her total and four from Republican Dino Rossi.
Republicans hope the trial will set aside the election of Gregoire who took office with a 129-vote margin on the third count. Rossi hopes to win a rematch this fall.
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.
KING
Republican Dino Rossi is fighting to overturn the election of Christine Gregoire, who won by 129 votes in a hand recount of 2.9 million ballots.
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.
Bridges was also expected to rule on the following issues:
—FELONS. Republicans have submitted a list of felons they say voted illegally, most from the Democratic stronghold of King County. Democrats say the list has many mistakes: people whose voting rights were restored, or were juveniles when they were convicted and never had their voting rights revoked.
Bridges will have to decide what to do with the list: accept it as-is, or require more proof that the listed names belong to felons who voted illegally.
—OFFSETTING. The Democrats are trying to beat Republicans at their own game here, arguing that illegal Rossi votes and valid Gregoire votes that mistakenly went uncounted cancel out illegal votes for Gregoire.
Republicans want the judge to cut off that avenue. Democrats accuse Republicans of trying to “cherry-pick” errors that help their case while ignoring others.
—CREDITING. Republicans want to use counties’ voter crediting files to show who voted in the 2004 election. Democrats argue those crediting rolls are inherently unreliable and say the GOP should be forced to find other evidence of voting, such as signatures in poll books or absentee ballot envelopes.
—NON-CITIZENS. Democrats asked the court for summary judgment excluding two non-citizen votes from the list of alleged illegal votes, on the grounds those votes were challenged too late. In a rare and fleeting moment of harmony, both the Republicans and the secretary of state’s office agreed with the motion.