Judge Blocks Count of New Wash. Ballots

[pbartch]

Judge Blocks Count of New Wash. Ballots

1 hour, 47 minutes ago
By REBECCA COOK, Associated Press Writer

TACOMA, Wash. - A judge Friday granted a state Republican Party request to block the counting of hundreds of recently discovered King County ballots in Washington's extremely close governor's race.

Even if the election workers wrongly rejected the ballots, it is too late for King County to reconsider them now, Pierce County Superior Court Judge Stephanie Arend said.

From reading state law and state Supreme Court decisions, "it is clear to me that it is not appropriate to go back and revisit decisions on whether ballots should or should not be counted," Arend said.

State Democratic Party Chairman Paul Berendt said the party will appeal the decision.

"We're going to fight for every vote to count in the state of Washington," he said. "I guess we're headed to the (state) Supreme Court."

Republican Dino Rossi won the Nov. 2 election over Democrat Christine Gregoire by 261 votes in the first count and by 42 after a machine recount of the 2.9 million votes cast.

Additional votes have been tallied in a hand recount sought by Democrats, but on Friday afternoon, with all but two counties reporting, Rossi had gained just one net vote for a 43-vote lead over Gregoire.

King County — the state's most populous and a Gregoire stronghold — and Spokane County are the only two that haven't finished their manual recounts.

King County officials and Democrats had wanted to include 723 newfound ballots in the hand recount, saying they are valid ballots that were mistakenly rejected because of county workers' errors.
Republicans sued, saying it was too late to add ballots to the recount now.


http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041217/ap_on_el_gu/washington_governor

[pbartch]

1. lousy stinking judge

It's not the voter's fault that the STUPID COUNTY people lost the votes.

WAY TO GO DEMOCRATS FOR TAKING THIS TO THE WASHINGTON STATE SUPREME COURT!

[yankeefanatic3]

2. ACTIVIST JUDGE!

Impeach him...THIS is what an activist judge is! I hope the legislature or Gov. Locke can do something if the appeal does not go through.

[Democat]

3. Activist judges, frivolous lawsuits - all from the GOP

And the media is silent.

[satya]

4. Rossi-leaning counties may be playing by a different set of rules

The Seattle PI reported on Dec. 10 that New votes surface in recount

"New votes continued to turn up yesterday in the governor's race recount, with 17 of 39 counties reporting, but Christine Gregoire still has not benefited from the hand tally commissioned last week by the state Democratic Party."
...
"So far, none of the counties has reviewed disqualified ballots. The additional votes were either found after being misfiled or counted because a closer examination revealed voter intent that had previously been overlooked."

[lonestarnot]

5. Can you say APPEAL?

[tandem5]

6. I'm at a total loss... nt

[wlubin]

7. I don't get it. Isn't that what a recount of for? Isn't the purpose of

a recount is to find errors? What a moron judge! hahahaha

[suffragette]

8. we'll win next week

And from a later article by the same writer at
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aplocal_story.asp?category=6420&slug=WA%20Governor%20Recount%20Legal

But King County, the state Democratic Party and the secretary of state's office disagreed with the ruling. They point to the state law - RCW 29A.60.210 - referenced in the Supreme Court ruling.
This law says, in full:

"Whenever the canvassing board finds that there is an apparent discrepancy or an inconsistency in the returns of a primary or election, the board may recanvass the ballots or voting devices in any precincts of the county. The canvassing board shall conduct any necessary recanvass activity on or before the last day to certify the primary or election and correct any error and document the correction of any error that it finds."
Because the hand recount has not yet been certified, the Democrats and King County argue, the King County Recanvassing Board has the right to go back and correct errors.
Republican Secretary of State Sam Reed joined their argument. Thomas Ahearne, a lawyer representing Reed's office, said Friday in court that the secretary of state's office has interpreted state law the same way King County has.
"The recount statute does not require wholesale reconsideration" of rejected ballots, Ahearne said, but "it does grant each county canvassing board the discretion to recanvass selected ballots if there are discrepancies or inconsistencies ... that is what King County did."

State Elections Director Nick Handy said other county canvassing boards have reconsidered ballots and added them to the first or second recounts in the governor's race. King County's case is extreme in the number of ballots involved, but Handy said it's the same legal principle.

"In similar situations in other counties, ballots like these were counted," Handy said.


With all of this, I don't see how that judge's ruling can stand.

[hlthe2b]

12. One decent Repug Sec. of State out there, I guess....

There should be no question, regardless of party affiliation. This is damned ridiculous.

[bemis12]

9. I don't know enough about the law...

... to say whether the ruling was proper or not. But I don't think it's going to matter. Gregoire should get all she needs without those ballots.

[pointsoflight]

10. Nothing like suing so that legit votes aren't counted.

What a sad day for our country when partisan politics takes precedence over the sanctity of the vote that is at the very foundation of our democracy.

[Imagevision]

11. Democrat Christine Gregoire to file an appeal ASAP

Govenor or Prsident...the repugs just don't want recounts, this will change.

[proudbluestater]

13. This is just disgusting

It's bad enough we're divided into blue/red states and blue/red voters, now it appears that LAWS themselves are applied differently depending on whether you are red or blue. What happened to the equal protection clause? WTF?????

Why are LAWS suddenly being ignored, deemed "quaint" and even the Supreme Court rulings are ignored by the Repukes? How do you raise your children to follow the rules when half of the leadership of the country does not even obey the most basic rules?