WA Gov: RULING--ROSSI CASE DISMISSED, WITH PREJUDICE

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Judge John Bridges of the Superior Court of Chelan County has dismissed, with prejudice, the election challenge raised by Dino Rossi for the Governor of Washington. The certification of Christine Gregoire as governor has been upheld, and she will remain in office.

Obviously, more will be forthcoming from myself and others as the reactions pour in and the ruling is released in writing, but for now some highlights from a feed-interrupted reading by the Judge:

• Declines invitation to "send a message" about the election. The court is not in a position to fix deficiencies; the voters are. But clearly, the evidence here suggests the problem requires more than a new buildng and new staff. The "election culture" in King County is inertia. It's selfishness. It's not taking responsibility, it's not being held accountable.
• The Republican tally of illegal votes is not a complete census of illegal votes, nor was it a random sample--they were overly weighted in areas where Gregoire prevailed. Their method of apportionment is not consistent with the generally accepted science. Relying on -any- party's selection of illegal ballots creates a risk.
• The Republicans' method depends on an assumption without any collateral indication of fact. Further, this assumption has not been generally accepted. The method of proportionate deduction suggested is scientifically unacceptable use of ecological inference. For one thing, the statistical methods ignore other significant factors, citing gender as one factor--males were shown to be less likely to vote for Gregoire.
• "There is no evidence that ballots were changed, ballot boxes stuffed, or that lawful ballots were removed."
• "The court should exercise restraint...unless an election is clearly invalid." Irregularities which do not affect the outcome cannot be used to overturn the election.

[Bridges detailed the count of accepted illegal votes into evidence:

1. 754 felons cited by GOP
2. 647 felons cited by Democrats
3. 19 voters in the name of the dead
4. 6 double votes
5. 175 provisionals (King 96; Pierce 79)
6. 77 additional votes of unknown origin from Pierce

For a total of 1,678 total illegal votes.]

• Petitioners profferred expert testimony that was neither accepted theory, nor a valid technique. The motion to dismiss the proportionate deduction method on the basis of a Frye test is thus granted. The court is more inclined to conclude that had the method been applied, based on Democrat testimony Gregoire would have prevailed in any case.
• Pursuant to RCW 29A 68.110, these illegal votes were found:
  • 4 votes for Rossi
  • 1 vote for Bennett

• There is no evidence that Miss Gregoire received ANY illegal votes, citing Hill v Howell on the presumption of legality for votes not fully declaimed as illegal by statute.
• There was in fact "evidence of irregularity, as there appears to be in every election." However, the causation element must still be met, and here it is not met.
• Petitioners have not met EITHER the clear and convincing burden, nor the preponderance of the evidence burden, in order to prevail.
• Fraud may not now be claimed as a cause of contest. To the extent that it was claimed, neither the act nor the causation were proved by the standard of clear and cogent evidence.
• For one judge to preside over the apportionment of votes to reach a single number, would be the "ultimate act of judicial egotism and judicial activism."

[all emphasis mine, in some cases reflecting an interpretation of emphasis by Judge Bridges.]

--TJ

Comments

[Daniel K.]

Great job TJ on all the postings. This will be a good archive down the road.

[Torridjoe]

Thanks!

[carla]

Heh.

I was so excited I trackbacked twice.

My bad. :)

[Nindid]

Thanks TJ... here is to the great analysis and being right!

[dj]

Hey TJ,
Excellent work throughout the contest. Many thanks for taking the time to get the details in there.