SwiftVets.com

[shawa]

I doubt the court will overturn the election, but I'm glad Rossi
filed the suit.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002144756_webrossi07m.html

By David Postman
Seattle Times chief political reporter

Republican Dino Rossi filed a sweeping lawsuit today challenging Democrat Christine Gregoire's election as governor.
"It is clear this election is a mess," Rossi said this afternoon as he announced the lawsuit in Bellevue.

Rossi and the state Republican Party say a series of problems in King County, as well as evidence that votes were cast under the names of dead people and felons means a judge should throw out the Nov. 2 election and call for a new one.

"The counties have counted a huge number of invalid and illegal votes," said attorney Harry Korrell.
The suit was filed in Chelan County Superior Court.

Korrell said there is no doubt the case will end up at the state Supreme Court. But he said hearings before a judge are necessary to establish what happened in the election and he did not want to do that in the larger counties where most of the problems have been discovered.

"The election contest is not about trying to prove that anybody is out to steal the election," Rossi said. He does not claim a conspiracy.

But he said there are so many problems through the three counts of the nearly 3 million ballots cast that a new election is the only way to "help cleanse this process."

Asked how she felt about the GOP challenge, Gregoire said "I don't take any of this personally. I respect the rights of others to file an action in court. That's their right. I have to respect that, I'm the attorney general."
Gregoire reiterated that she's seen no proof of election fraud.

"Whatever has been said over the last few days, and every day it's a new issue that's been raised, I have yet to see any proof of any illegality on behalf of the election officials," she said. "They have acted in a consummate professional way."

Problems that have been uncovered in the election, she said "are in fact honest, potential mistakes. They are not fraudulent. They are not illegal."

Former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton, a key Rossi advisor, said it is not necessary to show fraud, only enough errors that puts the true outcome of the race in doubt.

"The number of votes cast questionably, illegally or mistakenly is vastly in excess of the 129 vote margin by which this election has been certified.," Gorton said.

Gorton said this week he was initially skeptical that a lawsuit could succeed. Votes by dead people and felons likely wouldn't have been enough to unseat Gregoire, he advised Rossi's team.

"Earlier this week when it looked like that was all there was, I said, 'Fine, go ahead, but you don't have an awful lot,'. " Gorton said.

He was much more optimistic after the discovery this week that an unknown number, perhaps hundreds, of provisional ballots were improperly fed into voting machines on Election Day.

Those ballots are given to voters who show up at the wrong polling place or whose registration is in question. They are supposed to be kept separate and secure from other ballots until election workers can determine if the voter is properly registered.

When the ballots were put in the counting machines, it became impossible to separate legitimate ballots from those that should have been disqualified.

The Republican challenge also could include the allegation that King County election workers improperly "enhanced" ballots when the voter intent was not clear, said Republican Party Attorney Peter Schalestock.

Rossi won the initial count after the election by 261 votes. That triggered an automatic machine recount that showed him the winner by 42 votes and he was declared governor-elect.

But a hand recount ordered by the Democratic Party reversed that, and put Gregoire up by 129 votes. She was certified governor-elect and is scheduled to be sworn in Wednesday.

The law gives any voter 10 days from that point to file what is called an election contest.

The type of challenge the GOP is planning would essentially put the election on trial, with a judge hearing testimony and taking evidence on allegations of fraud or error that resulted in enough "illegal votes" that the true outcome of the election is unknown.

A judge can throw out the claim, declare Rossi the winner or nullify the election and call for a new one.

Two people got the jump on the official Republican challenge and filed complaints with the Supreme Court.

One was from Dr. Arthur Coday Jr., a Shoreline pediatrician and Republican Party donor who did his own research and drafted his own complaint.

"It was an issue of conscience, to be honest," Coday said.

He was particularly bothered that state law allowed the Democrats to order a hand recount if they came up with the $730,000 or so needed as a deposit to cover the costs if the recount didn't reverse the results.

He said he read the state Constitution, which says elections should be "free and equal."

"Gosh, if private parties can get a recount if they pay and if they can't if they don't, there's something wrong with that. It's not free anymore."

The other complaint was filed by Daniel Stevens of Fall City. He said he filed his complaint Dec. 30, the day Gregoire was certified as governor-elect, and later sent the court the $250 filing fee.

King County Elections Director Dean Logan concedes there were mistakes made with provisional ballots. He said there may be as many as 350 that were improperly put in the vote-counting machine.

But, he said, it would be wrong to "come to a conclusion that those were invalid votes that would have tipped this election."

He said that up to 90 percent of provisional ballots countywide were found to be valid in this year's election, so only a small percentage of the 350 are likely illegitimate votes.

He also said that the county is continuing to reconcile its lists of people who voted Nov. 2 and the number of ballots cast. While there was a difference of about 3,500 in those lists, Logan said that by today it will be down to 1,200 to 1,500.

That, he said, is in line with past elections and what some other counties have seen, and does not present a ripe target for an election challenge.

"That does not clearly indicate that the election would have come out any differently," he said. "There are valid explanations for why there might be a discrepancy."

He will issue a report today detailing the numbers and the reasons for the remaining discrepancy.

An attorney for the Democrats said she doesn't think Republicans will find any strong evidence for an election contest.

"Suspicion is not proof," said Jenny Durkan, a Gregoire confidant representing the state Democratic Party. She is not worried about a judge throwing out the mishandled provisional ballots.

"There is a strong presumption in law that you don't throw out votes just because someone made a clerical mistake," she said. "There's not even a 50-50 chance a court would rule with Republicans to set aside this election."

But this election has seen several unprecedented turns. "That's the only thing that keeps me from saying there's no chance," she said.

[shawa]

Also found this article:

Dead voted in governor's race
King County investigating 'ghost voter' cases

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/206969_dead07.html

[noyesj]

If you remember Chicago set the pace many years ago.

If you can remember the years when it was common knowlege
that no matter what party you voted with while you were alive,
you would still vote Demacrat after you die.

That is now policy for King county DEMS!!!!!!
_________________
noyesj USAF 1953-1959

[scotty61]

Mayor Daley's famous quote; "Remember... vote early and vote often!"
_________________
John Kerry. A Neville Chamberlain for our times.

[streetsweeper95B]

She's seen no problem with wasting millionsof our tax dollars on bungled legal procedures in her term as AG either.....go finger that one.

Matter of fact, she has no problems period. oops
_________________
"Proud Member of the Freak Show"

[LewWaters]

I sent emails to all the Representatives and Senator representing my district tonight urging them to not certify this election and join in the majority of the state wanting a new election. All Democrats, no less

This election has turned into such a farce a re-vote is our only hope. I'm still waiting to hear King Counties explanation for counting about 3500 more ballots than registered voters.

Funny, when Rossi was ahead by 261 votes, it was a statistical tie. Now that Gregoire is ahead by 126 or so, she wins with a mandate, LOL. And, they call this a proper and well ran election? The founding fathers must be rolling in their graves tonight.
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Clark County Conservative

[Fphamm]

But to listen to the news media here in Washington, they are saying that a revote is against the constitution, and that all positions would have to be revoted...But of course this is coming from the Democratic party....so what do we expect.

[GM Strong]

The whole thing is an embarrassment, but in a political environment controlled by Liberals (D and R) sooner or later people concerned have to say enough and not be afraid of being open about it. Too many RINOs are worried that the Libs won't like them or that they may not be re-elected. This is the result. Keep up the fight.
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8th Army Korea 68-69

[Navymomx2]

For those of us in WA, if you haven't already seen the petition and signed it go to www.revotewa.com don't know how long there is left on signing the petition.
_________________
Proud 2 Star Blue Star Navy Mom

Honor, Courage and Committment
something John F. Kerry doesn't have

[SBD]

I got this email today that illustrates a well known fact that when a Democrat (IE Barbara Boxer and gang) point their finger at Republicans accusing them of stealing the election, it is to cover up their criminal deeds.

Tarnished Crown
Democrat Christine Gregoire is scheduled to be sworn in as Washington state's governor next week after winning a controversial manual recount by 129 votes. But according to a new poll taken by Seattle's KING-TV, the state's residents still believe that Republican Dino Rossi won by a margin of 56% to 35%. When asked if Mr. Rossi should concede, those surveyed said "no" by a 53% to 36% margin. Most significantly, they supported holding another election by a 20-point margin. The same idea was endorsed by respected former Republican Governor Dan Evans last week.

Those numbers reflect a growing sentiment that the state's election process was hopelessly compromised in Seattle's King County, which has a long history of incompetent vote-counting. County officials have yet to adequately explain why they tallied 3,539 more votes than the number of people who voted. A handwriting analyst hired by the state's home-building industry believes there is strong evidence that one person may have signed over 300 provisional ballots cast in a controversial precinct in which hundreds of voters listed the county's administration building as their home address.

King County election officials insist nothing is amiss. "There's many reasons why the number is different," says Bill Huennekens. He promises that election officials will be "coming together with all those numbers and seeing exactly where we're at." But by then Ms. Gregoire will have been sworn in as governor after a vote count that many believe was hopelessly tainted.

State law requires each county to certify its vote only after a "full, true and correct representation of the votes cast." Right now, no one can say with certainty that the law has been followed in Washington State. It's time to call in both state investigators and the FBI and have a look at the anomalies in this race. The outcome may not change, but at least some of the myriad of unanswered questions about the vote count may be resolved.

--John Fund
Wall Street Journal Opinions

The sad part is that part of their plan worked. While all of us focused on Ohio, they stole the Governor's race in Washington. I won't even go into what is happening here in San Diego as it is too disgusting to add on top of this. I am working on a way to expose the San Diego thieves on my website SaveSanDiego.org. I just started, but it shouldn't take long to fill with Union Thug stories and the most outrageous pension system ever invented. In the center of it all is another election that the Dems are trying to steal, the Mayoral race. I guess after so many years of practice with lying and intimidation, the Dems have started to perfect it on the West Coast.

SBD

[LewWaters]

Ms. Fraudoire may be sworn in as our Governor, but this is far from over. I emailed the 1 Senator and 2 Representatives in my disctrict and only one even bothered to answer me, Bill Fromhold. After reading his reply, I intend to make my voice heard often and be a pain to them all, with my point of view.

They have also lost any chance whatsoever of having my support, in future elections, already!!!!!
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Clark County Conservative

[GenrXr]

Hopefully, a court action will unveil the unlawful tactics Democrats have been using for the last 30 years in manufacturing votes.

Off Topic:
Does anyone know if Rossi is related to the winery family of California? In the 50's the Rossi and Gallo families created the California Co-op's for grapes leading to a consolidation of the vineyards and this family is definitely tactically sound in regards to political joust. Our family fenced with them on my fathers' mother side during this period and if he is part of that Rossi family I would place my money on him coming out roses in this contested battle.
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"An activist is the person who cleans up the water, not the one claiming its dirty."
"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to stand by and do nothing." Edmund Burke (1729-1797), Founder of Conservative Philosophy

[Snipe]

I wish that you guys would cut some slack to the dead vote. When
I transfer to the other side of the grass, it's nice to know that I can come
back every two years if only to cast a Democrat ballot. In Illinois,
even Lincoln votes Democrat.


_________________
Tin Can Sailor

[GM Strong]

[scotty61]

And just what is wrong with dogs voting? My last german shepard twice got letters from the Dept. of the Navy trying to recruit him into the "nuclear navy". I did not let him join as he was 42 in dog years and would not live long enough to put in his "twenty". But if dogs can called on to serve; why shouldn't they be allowed to vote?
_________________
John Kerry. A Neville Chamberlain for our times.