Judge denies request that some King County ballots not be counted

11/21/2004

Associated Press

A federal judge on Sunday denied the state Republican Party's bid to force King County to stop counting some ballots in the recount of the governor's race.

In a conference call with lawyers, U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman denied the GOP's request for a temporary restraining order barring the hand-counting of ballots machines reject because they can't be read electronically.

"It was a good decision," state Democratic Party Chairman Paul Berendt said. "It's good for voters because it's consistent with the standard we would like to see ? that every vote be counted."

Republicans sued Secretary of State Sam Reed and the King County Division of Elections on Saturday, arguing that ballots the machines can't count should be excluded from the recount because they have to be checked by hand ? a process that's not being used in other counties where punch card ballots were used instead of optical scanners.

"This constitutes a clear violation of hundreds of thousands of Washington voters' right to equal protection under the United States and Washington State Constitutions," the lawsuit stated.

GOP Chairman Chris Vance downplayed the significance of Pechman's ruling, noting it dealt with only one aspect of the lawsuit. He noted that the judge said her decision was based on King County's assurance that all ballots in question are being kept separate from the others so they can be reviewed to see if any mistakes have been made.

"We don't believe King County," Vance said. "Our observers have watched. Ballots are being altered. And we don't believe they are being set aside."