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Ericksen disappointed by
vote to ratify flawed election
Washington’s Legislature
put its stamp of approval today on the gubernatorial election results,
despite acknowledged errors in the way thousands of votes were cast and
counted. Republicans in the House of Representatives requested that
approval the election results be delayed for two weeks until evidence of
election irregularities can be presented and weighed. The
Democrat-controlled Legislature rejected the idea of waiting and
ratified the results on a near party-line vote.
Rep. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale, said the move by the majority members of
the Legislature to ratify the disputed election is a breach of faith
with the citizens who still have legitimate concerns about the results.
“The people do not trust that there is an accurate outcome to this
election,” said Ericksen. “Is there a smoking gun? That’s not for us to
decide. That will be decided in court. We’re not voting today on whether
to hold a revote. The only thing that matters today is that we gain the
public’s trust. By voting to ratify this election, are we – their
elected representatives – declaring it to be fair and accurate? None of
us can say that with any degree of certainty. We will only contribute to
the people’s mistrust by putting a rubber stamp on this disputed
election.”
The 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. Citizens who have filed a
legal contest to the election 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.
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 for approval. Ericksen said
lawmakers have a duty to call for a proper accounting of all
acknowledged mistakes before ratifying the results of the election.
“We have a constitutional responsibility to give our approval to this
election,” said Ericksen. “There is no more clear case which would call
for us to slow down to ensure public trust in the election process. It’s
a breach of duty to ratify these election results that we know are
inaccurate.”
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
Handy, Assistant Director: (360) 786-5758
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