Judge upholds state governor's election

Republicans claim that voting errors, fraud stole election from Rossi

WENATCHEE (AP) — A judge Monday upheld Washington's 2004 gubernatorial election, rejecting Republicans' bid to nullify the 129-vote victory of Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire.

Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges denied Republicans' claims that election errors, illegal voters and fraud stole the election from GOP candidate Dino Rossi.

Republicans have said they plan to appeal to the state Supreme Court. They are seeking a new election this November.

"The election contest petition should be dismissed with prejudice," Bridges said. "Unless an election is clearly invalid, when the people have spoken their verdict should not be disturbed by the courts."

Before ruling, Bridges said he'd decline Republicans' invitation to "send a message" with his ruling.

"This court is not in the position to fix the deficiencies in the election process," he said. "However, the voters are in a position to demand of their legislative and executive bodies that remedial measures be taken immediately."

"Extraordinary efforts are in place to make it easier to vote," Bridges continued. "Unfortunately I fear it will be much more difficult to account for those votes in the future."

In a two-week trial, Republicans concentrated their attacks on the Democratic stronghold of King County, the state's most populous county. The trial exposed various problems, from inaccurate mail ballot reports to Election Director Dean Logan's admission that he didn't know whether the results were accurate within 129 votes.

The ultra-tight contest spurred the state Legislature to pass several election reform bills this year, but many other proposals were left on the table.

"This is the biggest mess I've ever seen," GOP attorney Dale Foreman said in his opening statement. "The system is broken and it must be fixed."

Foreman alleged that the case centered on "election fraud by the upper management of the King County elections. This election was stolen from the legal voters of this state by a bizarre combination of illegal voters and bungling bureaucrats."

Democratic attorneys said the GOP claims lacked the clear and convincing proof needed to justify overturning the election. Election errors Republicans characterized as "sinister," Democrats described as innocent mistakes that happen in every county, in every election.

"It's not enough to show a mistake, it's not enough to show a bad mistake, and it's not enough to show a really bad mistake," Democratic attorney Jenny Durkan said in her closing argument. "In order to prove their case, they still have to show that Gov. Gregoire did not receive the highest number of legal votes."

Rossi, a commercial real estate agent and former state senator, was considered a long shot against Gregoire, a three-term attorney general who was the anointed successor to Democratic Gov. Gary Locke. But Rossi's promise of a fresh start in Olympia left Gregoire struggling to define herself.

Rossi won the first count by 261 votes, then watched his lead shrink to 42 in a machine recount. In a hand recount of nearly 3 million ballots, Gregoire won by 129 votes, and her margin was the smallest in percentage terms of any governor's race in the nation's history. Five days before Gregoire's inauguration, Rossi sued to contest the election.