Democrats Defend Wash. Governor Election
05/30/2005
WENATCHEE, Wash. - The unprecedented legal challenge to Washington’s 2004 gubernatorial election heads into its second week on Tuesday, as Democrats try to defend the 129-vote victory of Gov. Christine Gregoire.
Last week, attorneys for the state Republican Party presented evidence of illegal votes and election officials’ errors in Democrat-heavy King County. They argued that mistakes in the King County elections department allowed fraud to occur, stealing the election from Republican Dino Rossi.
This week, Democratic attorneys plan to argue that mistakes happened everywhere - not just in King County, and not just in the counties that supported Gregoire.
“There is no such thing as a perfect election,” Democratic attorney Kevin Hamilton said on the courthouse steps. “There are always lots of little mistakes. That doesn’t invalidate an election.
Democrats called nine county elections officials to testify Friday about mistakes that allowed invalid ballots to be counted. Eight of the nine came from pro-Rossi counties. On Tuesday, they plan to call state Elections Director Nick Handy to testify. Handy said he agrees with the Democrats’ basic premise: “Elections are run by people, and mistakes happen.”
Republican attorneys hope this “mistakes happen” argument will end up helping their case. They want the judge to invalidate the gubernatorial election, prompting a rematch between Rossi and Gregoire.
“Their case is a two-edged sword for them,” GOP attorney Mark Braden said. “Are they arguing this election was good and she won, or are they arguing it was screwed up everywhere?”
Democrats will also bring their own experts to the stand to counter arguments made by GOP expert witnesses who testified about their method of showing who really won the super-close election: by deducting illegal votes from each candidates’ total according to voting patterns in the illegal voters’ precincts.
So far, Bridges has agreed with attorneys representing the secretary of state’s office on every major ruling, and most minor ones as well. Rossi and the Republicans sued the secretary of state to overturn the election, but the state has taken a back seat to the Democratic Party in defending the election. The two attorneys representing Secretary of State Sam Reed, a Republican, are quick to note that they are not defending the 2004 election itself - rather, they are defending the secretary of state’s administration of the election. Their cross-examination of witnesses has been brief compared to the other attorneys, and focussed mostly on teasing out interpretations of state election law.
One interesting request: Assistant Attorney General Jeff Even said if the judge rules in favor of Rossi’s election challenge, the secretary of state’s office would like a “firm and final vote total” in the governor’s election - presumably subtracting all illegal votes. That number is needed to determine the signature-gathering requirements for initiatives and referenda.
Handy, who works in the secretary of state’s office, said they will take no position on the ultimate question of who the judge should rule for, Rossi or Gregoire.
“We are the impartial elections administration office,” Handy said. Whatever the judge rules, Handy said he expects it Friday, the last day of trial. So far Bridges has made all his rulings from the bench.
“This guy is just on top of everything,” Handy said.