GOP questions vote discrepancies: 8,500 and counting

By REBECCA COOK
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER   03 January 2005

Republicans laid the groundwork Monday for a potential legal challenge to the governor's election, with attention turning once again to possible voting discrepancies.

"Perhaps there's a logical explanation for all this," said state GOP Chairman Chris Vance, referring to public records that show nearly 8,500 more ballots than voters in five counties. "But if there is not, this election is invalid on its face and the Legislature cannot in good conscience certify Christine Gregoire."

Vance said the voting discrepancies - if they're not accounted for - could form the foundation for a legal challenge to the election of Democrat Christine Gregoire, who beat Republican Dino Rossi by 129 votes after a hand recount of 2.9 million ballots.

Gregoire's inauguration is scheduled for Jan. 12. Republicans are pushing for a revote. Democrats say it's unlikely.

"This is a fairly common occurrence - it happens in every election, and in virtually every county," state Democratic Party Chairman Paul Berendt said of the vote discrepancies. "There would need to be a very high standard to challenge an election for governor, and the Republicans have not presented that case."

  
 
Vance has focused on King County, the Democratic stronghold that made Gregoire the victor in the hand recount after Rossi won two previous counts. The county's list of people who voted in the 2004 election is 3,539 names short of the number of ballots it certified.

Rossi-supporting counties have similar shortfalls. Snohomish County has 1,738 fewer voters on its list than certified votes; Pierce County has 1,640; Clark County has 1,018; and Kitsap County has 484.

Republicans are also checking with the state's other 34 counties to see if there are other discrepancies.

The discrepancy is "definitely, absolutely normal," said Pierce County Auditor Pat McCarthy. She said the list of names may not include voters who have moved in the two months since the election and whose names have been "cleaned" from the rolls, and it may not include voters who were previously categorized as "inactive."

McCarthy said she understands why people are scrutinizing the election: "There are no questions that shouldn't be asked."

King County Elections Director Dean Logan said the difference between ballots and voters is larger than he's comfortable with, but "not alarming."

"Historically, you never get an exact match," Logan said. Voters not on the list could include military voters from overseas, he said, or people who signed the wrong line of the sign-in book at their polling places.

Logan was in Washington, D.C., on Monday for a federal election reform task force meeting. King County election workers will allow Republican observers to watch as they try to reconcile the voter list, with results expected by the end of the week.

One high-profile Republican, former Gov. Dan Evans, joined the chorus calling for a new election with an online essay published Dec. 31.

"Democracy may be messy, but its principles are why it still serves us best," Evans wrote for the Web site www.revotewa.com. "If we screw up the implementation, let's go back to the principles. The voters' will is paramount."

He proposed a special election next month. On Monday, Evans said his appetite for a revote depends heavily on how King County answers questions about the 3,500-vote difference between voter rolls and certified ballots.

"A lot depends on what the outcome is of that investigation," Evans said. "If they can explain that and there are no other significant errors, in spite of the fact of a close election, it's time to say 'OK, we'll accept it.'"

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