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GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION CHALLENGE
SPECIAL COVERAGE, TIMELINE, AND ANALYSIS
Welcome to our special coverage section for the 2004 Gubernatorial Election Challenge! Below, you'll find a timeline of events in the election challenge as well as analysis of what's happened so far and what is likely to happen during the trial. Use the special section on our main page to get updates throughout the trial.
If you're not familar with what happened during the 2004 gubernatorial election here in Washington State last autumn, here's an overview: Christine Gregoire (Democrat) and Dino Rossi (Republican) were the two candidates vying to win the governor's race last November. Gregoire was widely considered to be the favorite and was expected to win. But on election night, the election was simply too close to call. In the weeks that followed, both candidates exchanged the lead numerous times as ballots were counted. Finally, Dino Rossi came out ahead at 261 votes. Because the vote was so close, the Secretary of State ordered a machine recount.
The machine recount whittled Rossi's lead down to 42 votes. Then, the Democrats asked the state to conduct a manual hand recount of the election and put up the money to pay for it. During the hand recount, many counties discovered votes that hadn't been counted earlier, including the Gregoire stronghold of King County, which discovered several hundred uncounted ballots. The GOP filed suit to prevent King County from counting the ballots, but the Supreme Court ultimately ruled against them. The election was certified by the Secretary of State at the end of December, with Christine Gregoire winning by 129 votes.
Timeline
The following is a timeline of what happened in the election challenge since Gregoire's win in the hand recount.
I. January 7th, 2005
Dino Rossi and the GOP file a lawsuit in Chelan County Superior Court, challenging Gregoire's election as Governor of the State of Washington.
II. January 11th-12th, 2005
The Washington State Legislature narrowly certifies the election of Christine Gregoire as Governor, with both the state House and the state Senate Republican caucuses opposing certification. Only one Democrat, Sen. Tim Sheldon, votes against the certification of the election. Gregoire is sworn into office as Governor the next day.
III. January 13th, 2005
In the first hearing in the election challenge, the original Chelan County judge (T.W. "Chip" Small) assigned to hear the lawsuit over the governor's election removes himself from the case. The judge took the action after Franklin County attorneys took him up on his offer to recuse himself. Judge John Bridges takes over for Small and approves a motion allowing the Democratic and Libertarian parties to join the case.
IV. January 20th, 2005
Second hearing in court case. Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges denies a GOP request to expedite the schedule for collecting evidence and taking depositions. Attorneys representing some of the 39 counties named in the suit tell Bridges that the requests have been overwhelming, particularly in small counties. Bridges also denies the Democratic Party's request that all discovery — the court-ordered process of compiling evidence — be suspended until major legal and jurisdictional questions can be answered.
V. February 4th, 2005
Third hearing in court case. Judge John Bridges rules that Republicans must show any illegal votes were cast in favor of Gregoire, and not Republican candidate Dino Rossi. There would have to be enough illegal Gregoire votes to erase her 129-vote victory margin. Bridges adds that if Republicans did prove their case, he would not order a new election for governor as they want him to do. He also refuses several Democratic attempts to dismiss the lawsuit, saying allegations made in the case, if proven at trial, would be sufficient to overturn the election of Governor Christine Gregoire. Additionally, Bridges dismisses all counties and county auditors from the case.
VI. February 18th, 2005
Fourth hearing in court case. Chelan County Superior Judge John Bridges declines to issue an order clarifying a series of rulings he made in the governor's election lawsuit earlier in the month. Bridges instead signs the order proposed by attorneys for Dino Rossi and the Republicans who filed the lawsuit that does little more than tally the motions that were granted and denied at the Feb. 4th Hearing. But he declines a Republican request to set a trial date in April. He says that is premature, until the issues of standards of proof are settled.
VII. March 2005
Democrats and Republicans spend the month of March working on their legal case and preparing evidence for an eventual trial. Democrats continue looking to add any ballots that were wrongfully excluded by elections officials. Republicans continue to search for "illegal" votes, including felon votes. On March 8th, King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng says his office will move to revoke the voter registrations of 99 convicted felons. The office later pursues others on lists of felon voters provided separately by The Seattle Times and the GOP.
VIII. April 6th, 2005
Fifth hearing in court case. Judge John Bridges sets a trial date of May 23rd to determine whether the election of Gov. Christine Gregoire should be overturned or not. The trial is set to last two weeks.
IX. April 25th, 2005
King County Election Director Dean Logan says under oath that he doesn't know whether the 2004 election results in King County were accurate within 129 votes, in a deposition transcript released by Republicans.
X. May 2nd, 2005
Sixth hearing in court case. The judge rules that Republicans will be allowed to offer evidence showing how illegal votes might have affected the election by assigning those votes to Christine Gregoire and Dino Rossi in the same proportion as the overall vote in any given neighborhood. Democrats will be able to challenge the scientific value of the evidence at a later hearing. Democrats will be allowed to introduce evidence of election errors and illegal votes that may have aided Rossi. Both sides will have to present "clear and convincing" evidence that a vote was cast by a felon. Bridges set out six standards for the evidence, similar to what Democrats had proposed: that the voter was convicted as an adult; was convicted of a felony; was not given a deferred sentence; has not had his or her voting rights restored; that they cast a ballot in the November election and voted for a gubernatorial candidate.
XI. May 23rd-June 3rd, 2005
The trial in the GOP election challenge of Christine Gregoire's 2004 win takes place. The GOP argues that the election should be overturned and presents evidence to bolster its case - evidence that doesn't prop up their phony charges of fraud and ballot stuffing, which GOP lawyers alleged in their opening statement. Key GOP witnesses include Nicole Way, Bill Huennekens, Evelyn Arnolds, as well as Professors Johnathon Katz and Anthony Gill. The GOP rests its case after four and a half days of trial. The Democrats subsequently open their defense with a parade of county auditors explaining why King County's election mistakes were not unique to King County. Other witnesses included state elections director Nick Handy, King County elections director Dean Logan, and Professors Christopher Adolph and Mark Handcock. The Democrats rest their case on the second to last day of trial. Republicans present their rebuttal, and finally, all sides present closing arguments. The trial concludes on June 3rd.
XII. June 6th, 2005
In a strongly worded decision, Chelan County Judge John Bridges blasts the Republicans' case to shreds. The judge rejected the central charge of fraud, saying there was no evidence to support the claim. Then, he dismisses the idea that the GOP's proposed use of "proportional deduction" is sound science, and refuses to subtract any felon votes from either candidate - save for the five voters whom the Democrats deposed as evidence that felons tended to support Dino Rossi. Four votes (one voted for libertarian Ruth Bennett) were thus subtracted from Rossi's total, widening Gregoire's lead. Bridges does subtract the overall count of illegal votes presented by both sides, however. Bridges goes on to say that overturning the election would "constitute the ultimate act of judicial egotism and judicial activism" and thus confirms the election for Christine Gregoire. Just hours later, Dino Rossi announces that he will not pursue an appeal to the state Supreme Court, officially ending the election contest.
Source: Originally written material plus text adapted from Seattle Times and Seattle P-I news articles. Used under the fair use provision of United States copyright law. Also see the Seattle Times' timeline of the race and election challenge. [TOP]
Documents & Links
Posts from the Northwest Progressive Institute Official Blog on the election aftermath/election challenge
Legislature certifies election (January 11th)
Republicans' double standard (January 12th)
Governor Gregoire is inaugurated (January 12th)
Constitutional issues key in challenge (January 24th)
HorsesAss slams Sharkansky (February 1st)
Developments in election challenge (February 4th)
Judge refuses to order a revote (February 4th)
Elections (and banks) are error prone (February 10th)
King County Election Report (February 14th)
Shark's claims are on the radar (February 8th)
P-I: Election expert praises King County (Feb. 18th)
Other Links & Documents
Overview of What to Expect
This quote from the Republican’s pre-trial brief sums up what the trial is all about:
"Petitioners will ask the Court at the conclusion of the case to set aside the issuance of the certification of election to Gregoire, on the ground that, after deduction of illegal votes from both candidates, the evidence shows that Rossi received more legal votes than Gregoire, and on the alternative ground that as a consequence of the errors, neglect omissions and misconduct of election officials, the true outcome of the general election for the office of Governor cannot be known."
That’s the case in a nutshell. Rossi and the GOP will attempt to prove that Gregoire received at least 130 illegal votes more than he did. And barring that, we’re back to the “total mess” theory. The twists are that Rossi’s attorneys will argue that all the mishandled provisional ballots (in King and Pierce) and all the voter credit discrepancies in King, amount to illegal votes. Furthermore, they are indeed going to argue that King fraudulently certified the election.
The GOP brief is impressive looking, as these things tend to be, but I expect the Democrat’s arguments to be just as persuasive. Keep in mind that the Republicans will be presenting their evidence first, so nobody should get too high or too low based on what comes out of the trial over the next few days.
TVW will be providing gavel to gavel coverage, and I plan to watch as much of the tedious proceedings as I can. I’m also hoping to get periodic reports from a couple flies on the wall, and I’ll share interesting tidbits (assuming there are any) as soon as they come in.
Judge refuses to clarify rulings (February 18th)
BIAW trickery and Lane's flip flop (March 4th)
Uh oh: GOP's felon list may be way off (March 17th)
News Digest for April 5th 2005 (April 5th)
No ammo for GOP in Logan deposition (April 26th)
Judge preserves the status quo (May 2nd)
Tomorrow's hearing crucial (May 1st)
Democrats identify 743 felon votes (May 7th)
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