Wash State:GOP demands new election as disputed votes emerge
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Link here (from Washington Times): GOP demands new election as disputed votes emerge
The kings and queens of all that is fair in elections (the Democrat party) are of course resisting this one tooth and nail. Though they were concerned enough about "getting the election right" that they went through 2 recounts before declaring themselves happy and confident that the results were right (after they'd magically pulled out a victory when 2 prior counts had them losing the Governors race in Washington State), those self same hypocrites are now arguing that there is absolutely no need for a re-vote in Washington State as the will of the people has already been decided. Yeah, right. And I have a beautiful tower in France for sale for any takers, nice historical land mark. Cheap even.
The Democrats would be served justice in this case if they do see their candidate put into office only to see a great grass-roots effort at a recall vote pulled out of the hat to send her packin' shortly after.
Anyway, here's the main points from the article:
Washington state Republicans yesterday filed a lawsuit calling for a revote in the tight 2004 gubernatorial contest that saw Democrat Christine Gregoire top Republican Dino Rossi after two recounts by 129 votes.
"Most Washingtonians don't believe this has been a valid election," said Mr. Rossi, who filed the Election Contest Petition along with the state Republican Party in Chelan County Superior Court.
"They want a revote to make sure our state has a legitimate governor," he said. "We've gathered strong evidence that shows many of the votes in this election were improperly cast. I believe a revote is the only good solution."
Republicans pointed to what they described as widespread voting irregularities in King County, a Democratic stronghold, that included votes cast by dead people and convicted felons, illegal provisional ballots, and thousands more votes than registered voters.
"We've seen debilitating, fatal mistakes, and we believe that a judge needs to set the results aside and order a new election," state Republican party chairman Chris Vance said.
But Mrs. Gregoire yesterday again rejected Republican calls for a new election, insisting that any discrepancies could be attributed to normal human error and, what's more, wouldn't change the final election result.
"Every day, it's a new issue that has been raised," said Mrs. Gregoire, the three-term state attorney general. "I have yet to see any proof of any illegality on behalf of election officials. They have operated in a consummately professional way. I see no intent on their part to defraud the voters of the state of Washington."
The postelection fracas, complete with the specter of voters rising from the grave, has stunned those who associate such Election Day shenanigans with the machine-style politics of old Chicago, not a good-government state like Washington.
A former state senator, Mr. Rossi won the Election Day count by 261 votes and a second, machine count by 42 votes. A third count, conducted by hand, of the state's 2.9 million ballots gave Mrs. Gregoire the 129-vote victory.
Republicans immediately cried foul. "He was actually leading in the King County hand recount until they found some new ballots and then decided to accept some questionable ballots," Rossi spokeswoman Mary Lane said.
Democrats called the lawsuit a desperate, last-ditch attempt to keep Mr. Rossi's candidacy alive. They said there was no precedent for an election revote, insisting that local election officials had followed proper procedures throughout the recount process.
"This is a PR campaign by the GOP. They're throwing everything they can find and hoping something sticks," Democratic Party spokeswoman Lisa Cohen said. "First it's military voters, then it's provisional ballots, then it's dead voters."
Republicans are pursuing a report yesterday in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that at least eight persons who died months before the Nov. 2 election cast ballots in King County. Among those was a 51-year-old Seattle woman, Mary Coffey, who died two weeks before absentee ballots were mailed.
"I don't see how she could have voted. It doesn't make sense. There has to be some kind of error that happened," her husband, Michael Coffey, told the Post-Intelligencer.
... more at linked article
By the way, note the bold faced section above -- amazing that such logic didn't apply when the Democrat was losing the election. If it did apply, then why was a hand-count necessary of all votes. Oh, yeah, I'm sorry, I forgot the Democrat was losing until that happened.
The kings and queens of all that is fair in elections (the Democrat party) are of course resisting this one tooth and nail. Though they were concerned enough about "getting the election right" that they went through 2 recounts before declaring themselves happy and confident that the results were right (after they'd magically pulled out a victory when 2 prior counts had them losing the Governors race in Washington State), those self same hypocrites are now arguing that there is absolutely no need for a re-vote in Washington State as the will of the people has already been decided. Yeah, right. And I have a beautiful tower in France for sale for any takers, nice historical land mark. Cheap even.
The Democrats would be served justice in this case if they do see their candidate put into office only to see a great grass-roots effort at a recall vote pulled out of the hat to send her packin' shortly after.
Anyway, here's the main points from the article:
Washington state Republicans yesterday filed a lawsuit calling for a revote in the tight 2004 gubernatorial contest that saw Democrat Christine Gregoire top Republican Dino Rossi after two recounts by 129 votes.
"Most Washingtonians don't believe this has been a valid election," said Mr. Rossi, who filed the Election Contest Petition along with the state Republican Party in Chelan County Superior Court.
"They want a revote to make sure our state has a legitimate governor," he said. "We've gathered strong evidence that shows many of the votes in this election were improperly cast. I believe a revote is the only good solution."
Republicans pointed to what they described as widespread voting irregularities in King County, a Democratic stronghold, that included votes cast by dead people and convicted felons, illegal provisional ballots, and thousands more votes than registered voters.
"We've seen debilitating, fatal mistakes, and we believe that a judge needs to set the results aside and order a new election," state Republican party chairman Chris Vance said.
But Mrs. Gregoire yesterday again rejected Republican calls for a new election, insisting that any discrepancies could be attributed to normal human error and, what's more, wouldn't change the final election result.
"Every day, it's a new issue that has been raised," said Mrs. Gregoire, the three-term state attorney general. "I have yet to see any proof of any illegality on behalf of election officials. They have operated in a consummately professional way. I see no intent on their part to defraud the voters of the state of Washington."
The postelection fracas, complete with the specter of voters rising from the grave, has stunned those who associate such Election Day shenanigans with the machine-style politics of old Chicago, not a good-government state like Washington.
A former state senator, Mr. Rossi won the Election Day count by 261 votes and a second, machine count by 42 votes. A third count, conducted by hand, of the state's 2.9 million ballots gave Mrs. Gregoire the 129-vote victory.
Republicans immediately cried foul. "He was actually leading in the King County hand recount until they found some new ballots and then decided to accept some questionable ballots," Rossi spokeswoman Mary Lane said.
Democrats called the lawsuit a desperate, last-ditch attempt to keep Mr. Rossi's candidacy alive. They said there was no precedent for an election revote, insisting that local election officials had followed proper procedures throughout the recount process.
"This is a PR campaign by the GOP. They're throwing everything they can find and hoping something sticks," Democratic Party spokeswoman Lisa Cohen said. "First it's military voters, then it's provisional ballots, then it's dead voters."
Republicans are pursuing a report yesterday in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that at least eight persons who died months before the Nov. 2 election cast ballots in King County. Among those was a 51-year-old Seattle woman, Mary Coffey, who died two weeks before absentee ballots were mailed.
"I don't see how she could have voted. It doesn't make sense. There has to be some kind of error that happened," her husband, Michael Coffey, told the Post-Intelligencer.
... more at linked article
By the way, note the bold faced section above -- amazing that such logic didn't apply when the Democrat was losing the election. If it did apply, then why was a hand-count necessary of all votes. Oh, yeah, I'm sorry, I forgot the Democrat was losing until that happened.