|
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
Elections Director Claims Wash. Vote Mistakes NewsMax.com WiresWENATCHEE, Wash. -- The state elections director testified Tuesday that he believes the problems in Washington's incredibly close 2004 gubernatorial election were innocent mistakes. "I saw inadvertent mistakes and errors of human beings who were working their hearts out," said Nick Handy, who was appointed to the post. He said he disagrees with his boss, Secretary of State Sam Reed, a Republican, who has called the problems in heavily Democratic King County "appalling." Story Continues Below Handy testified as a trial to determine whether the results of the election should be thrown out entered its second week. Democrats are trying to defend the 129-vote victory of Gov. Christine Gregoire. Republicans are asking Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges to nullify Gregoire's win and open the way for her GOP challenger, Dino Rossi, to be declared the winner or for a new election to be held. Last week, attorneys for the state Republican Party presented evidence of illegal votes and other problems in King County, arguing that the election was "stolen" from Rossi. This week, Democratic attorneys plan to argue that mistakes happened everywhere - not just in King County, and not just in the counties that supported Gregoire. On Tuesday, under questioning by Democratic attorney Jenny Durkan, Handy said he does not believe that discrepancies between the number of ballots counted and the number of voters were significant or sinister. GOP attorneys have pointed to the fact that King County counted 785 more ballots than the number of people who were credited with voting in the 2004 election. "It's not a process that bears on the authenticity of the election," Handy testified. "It's more like a housekeeping exercise done after certification." Handy said the secretary of state's office is not taking sides in the election challenge, but is involved to make sure the record is clear and complete in the precedent-setting case. He noted that his office has been sued about 20 times in the past year by both Republicans and Democrats over elections. "We are an equal-opportunity defendant," he said. The 129-vote margin was the smallest by percentage of any governor's contest in U.S. history.
© 2005 The Associated Press
Editor's note: Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics: |
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
| All Rights Reserved © 2009 NewsMax.Com |