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Legislature gives approval
to election, despite mistakes
Despite evidence of
decisive errors in the gubernatorial election, the state Legislature
ratified the election results, paving the way for tomorrow’s
inauguration of the governor-elect.
Statewide election results
were presented to a joint session of the Legislature for approval today,
as they are at the beginning of each term pursuant to the state
constitution. Republicans asked that approval of the historically close
governor’s race be delayed two weeks while evidence is presented in a
legal contest that has been filed. The Democrat-controlled Legislature
rejected the idea of waiting and ratified the results on a near
party-line vote.
Rep. Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis, called the move by the majority party
hard-line politics.
“Just yesterday, the
Speaker referred to this as the people’s house,” he said. “Well, the
fact is the people have lost confidence in this election process and
they do not have faith in these results. It’s a shame that on the day we
are honoring our outgoing governor that we have this cloud hanging over
the election of our new governor. All we’re asking is that we not put a
rubber stamp on this flawed election until we can reassure the citizens
that the outcome was legitimate. We hope we have a governor elected by
the people, not by the Legislature.”
Supporters of a legal contest say they have evidence of thousands of
ballots that cannot be linked to a voter. Additional evidence shows that
provisional ballots were improperly counted without being verified and
lost in the mix of legitimate ballots. Military personnel contend that
their ballots were mailed too late to be cast before the election
deadline.
Article 4, section 3 of the state constitution calls for election
results to be submitted to the Legislature and that the body declare the
duly elected winners of statewide elected offices. DeBolt said he
couldn’t vote to ratify the governor’s race when the public still has
not had received a proper accounting of all admitted mistakes.
“The constitution does not
say lawmakers should rubber-stamp the election results,” said DeBolt.
“It gives us the authority – the responsibility – to declare a winner
based on who has the highest number of votes. It’s a breach of duty to
ratify these election results when we can’t vouch for their accuracy.
“This is not about who won
and who lost. This is about regaining public confidence in the election
process and giving a voice to the people who deserve to know that this
election was fair and accurate.”
Dino Rossi was declared
the winner of the governor’s race following the first two official
counts, but the results were narrowly overturned on a hand recount,
giving Christine Gregoire a 129-vote lead.
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For more information, contact:
John Rothlin, Staff
Director - (360) 786-7254
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