Ray Minchew of Democracy for Washington runs down the ruling and talks about next steps: "Today, Judge Bridges ruled in Chelan County that the election of Governor Christine Gregoire should stand. In fact, he has dismissed the case “with prejudice”, stating that the GOP had a burden to prove their claims, and to prove that the alleged errors and misdeeds directly affected the outcome of the election – a burden they failed to meet. To those who watched the trial and listened to facts in evidence, this was an unsurprising ruling.
However, I know from interactions with some of you that not everyone has followed the case that closely outside of newspaper articles quoting the state Republican Party chair, and some of you still doubt the legitimacy of Governor Gregoire. In this mail, I will enumerate some GOP claims and the results of the case concluded today.
GOP claimed military voters were disenfranchised. In fact, the GOP dropped this claim when required to prove it in court. It was proven conclusively before the trial began that ballots were sent to military voters on time. Some soldiers did not receive ballots that were delayed in the field or destroyed during delivery.
GOP claimed, and continues to claim, fraud in the election. While more than willing to use the term “fraud” in the press and in the courtroom, GOP lawyers made no attempt to provide evidence of misdeeds. Instead, they claimed that errors, or perceived errors, in .1% of King County ballots led one to assume fraud must have occurred. The judge ruled fraud did not take place in this election.
GOP claimed illegal voters (felons, deceased voters, improper provisional ballots) threw the race to Gregoire. Five illegal voters were deposed, all in precincts won by Gregoire. Four had voted for Rossi and one for Ruth Bennett (Judge Bridges had these five votes subtracted). The judge ruled that it was not proved that any remaining illegal ballots even contained votes in the Gubernatorial election, and voter intent could not be imagined or deduced.
GOP focused entirely on King County to make their case. Democratic lawyers found illegal votes in nearly every county, including those that went strongly for Dino Rossi, showing that this is a normal, tiny percentage of any election.
GOP claimed King County elections office acted with partisan bias, stuffing ballot boxes, finding lost ballots, etc. The judge ruled all these claims were baseless. The judge ruled there was no evidence of ballot box stuffing, no evidence ballot security was ever a problem. In fact, several counties won by Rossi and with Republican elections officials recounted the same problems faced by King County with voters voting in the wrong precinct, ballots.
GOP claimed “proportional deduction”, subtracting illegal votes in the percentage of votes won in individual precincts, gave the election to Rossi. The judge ruled proportional deduction is not scientifically sound, based on expert testimony.
In short, the GOP filed an irresponsible, to use their own terms, “junk” lawsuit, in an effort to discredit the Washington state and King County elections process, elections officials, and many valid Washington voters. They will file an appeal to the state Supreme Court, but the case is unlikely to be overturned. The only fraud perpetrated has been by Chris Vance, Dino Rossi and the Republican Party.
Don't let the Republicans get away with this six-month long attack ad. They have attempted to bankrupt the Democratic Party, and state Chairman Paul Berendt has done an admirable job focusing the Party’s efforts in a successful attempt to defend our Governor and the integrity of the elections process.
Even if you can afford just a few dollars, we should help the state Party so that they can afford to pay the new field director in Eastern Washington and support candidates in upcoming elections. As a PAC, we can't work directly with the Party for fundraising, but add $.05 to the end of your contribution so they can see it came from us! Lastly, contact your local Party organization (or a candidate you support) today to volunteer! The GOP will be as focused and energized as they've ever been in 2005 and 2006, and we need to have every available body working to keep Washington state blue!" Ray has posted the above now on the Democracy for Washington home page.
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