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Bailey votes to delay
certification of gubernatorial election results
With serious questions
looming over the legitimacy of the 2004 gubernatorial election, House
Republicans today attempted to defer certification of election results
for two weeks until the court has time to review the evidence. The
motion to defer, supported by
Rep. Barbara Bailey, R-Oak Harbor, was
made during a joint session of the House of Representatives and the
state Senate.
"Due to all of the
discrepancies, mistakes and inconsistencies found in our recent election
and recounts, we don’t have a way of knowing for sure who really won the
governor’s election. Even more importantly, the voters have lost faith
in the election process," said Bailey. "Therefore, we should defer
certification and let the court work within the law to sort through
these issues."
Bailey said a deferral is not meant to contest the election results.
That, she said, is not the role of the Legislature.
"The state Constitution
lays out that the courts are the proper venue for contested elections.
However, it is the Legislature’s responsibility to ratify elections –
only if we believe the results reflect an accurate count of the legal
votes cast," said Bailey. "We owe it to the voters of this state to not
ratify an election if we believe it is flawed. The court should be given
the opportunity to examine this election before we proceed to certify
these results."
The debate continued for more than an hour before an historic joint vote
was taken – the first time since 1941 that the House and Senate has
voted together in a joint session of the Legislature. The motion to
defer certification of the gubernatorial election results until Jan. 25
was rejected, 80-65.
Bailey said the
Legislature must now also focus on election reform to restore the trust
of the voters.
"We need to go back and look at our election process. There is much
concern that our state does not have a uniform election system. We
should review that process and make sure that we all abide by the same
rules statewide," noted Bailey.
"We also need to make sure
that we have enough time for people who are absentee voters to send in
their ballots," she added. "I am especially very personally concerned
about the ability for our military men and women who are serving our
country overseas to receive their ballots on a timely basis so they can
vote and have their votes counted. We must change the system to make
sure that these voters are not disenfranchised and to guarantee that
there is only one voter for every vote cast."
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For more information, contact:
John
Handy, Assistant Director: (360) 786-5758
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