Recount begins as lawsuit is filed

EPHRATA — As election workers began sorting through and recounting February’s Moses Lake School District school construction ballots, opponents of the measure filed suit in Grant County Superior Court alleging irregularities in the certification process and asking the court to set aside the results of the bond election.

“It’s more about that [irregularities] than this,” said Fred Meise as he sat in the Grant County Commission hearing room to observe the recount. “It’s about the election system. We don’t have faith in it.”

In a formal filing with the court, Meise and five other Moses Lake voters — Doug Bierman, Pat Hochstatter, Mike Counsell, Jason Melcher, and Jared Pope — allege that Grant County Auditor Michele Jaderlund and her staff failed to follow the law and notify voters whose ballots had missing or irregular signatures by phone.

Specifically, the plaintiffs alleged that Jaderlund failed to follow up initial mail notification for proper signatures with phone calls to those who did not respond three days prior to the vote’s certification on Feb. 24.

Jim Mitchell, who handles civil litigation for the Grant County prosecutor’s office, said he could not comment on any pending litigation.

Meise was not alone as he sat and watched on Thursday as election workers sorted ballots by precinct and then began the slow and laborious work of hand counting all 9,459 ballots in four ballot boxes and sorting them into “yes” and “no” tallies by precinct.

Sitting on the other side of the room were Kevin Donovan, president of the Moses Lake School Board, and Josh Meek, the district’s current assistant superintendent.

“We’re going to be at this a while,” Grant County Elections Administration Trish Gibb told the gathered observers.

Late on Thursday, Mitchell said the recount was finished and final results would be released early Friday.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.