Ballot squabble has day in court

Published 10:43 pm Thursday, September 25, 2008

EVERETT — Snohomish County may delay printing of 400,000 ballots if a King County judge acts today to change how gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi is listed on them.

Statewide, the decision could affect up to 4 million ballots, including tens of thousands already printed, some of which have been mailed and returned from overseas voters.

“We’ll all have to stop the process and wait to see what happens. It does throw (election preparations) into chaos,” Snohomish County Auditor Carolyn Weikel said.

At 9 a.m. today, King County Superior Court Judge Richard Eadie will hear arguments in the lawsuit filed by the state Democratic Party to change Rossi’s affiliation on the ballot from the “Prefers GOP Party” to “Republican.”

Democratic leaders argue the Republican Party has lost favor with voters because of an unpopular war in Iraq and President Bush’s low approval ratings.

They contend because Rossi and Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire are involved in a close race, he is using the GOP label to avoid losing votes of those dissatisfied with the party he represents. It’s misleading and wrong, they argue in court papers. GOP stands for “Grand Old Party,” long a nickname for the Republican Party.

“Allowing Mr. Rossi to obscure his true party preference and affiliation directly violates the law, would mislead a substantial portion of the voting public and would breed cynicism and mistrust in our public institutions and, indeed, in our electoral process,” according to legal documents filed by the Democratic Party.

Rossi’s campaign said the lawsuit is a campaign ploy aimed at distracting voters.

“This is the act of a desperate incumbent and lawyer seeking to win the election in court by invalidating votes cast for Dino Rossi,” said Jill Strait, Rossi spokesperson

The state Democratic Party wants a halt to the printing of ballots until a ruling is made.

Secretary of State Sam Reed, who is named as the defendant in the lawsuit, said stopping now would be wrong.

“It’s just a horrible idea and we hope the judge realizes it,” Reed, a Republican, said Thursday in Everett.

Reprinting ballots is more involved than it might seem.

A unique ballot is created for nearly every precinct. Content varies because races and measures can vary from precinct to precinct.

Snohomish County created roughly 720 ballot types, Weikel said. Once workers finish proofreading them all, printing will start, she said. It could begin as early as today, she said.

The first ballots to be mailed will go to voters in the military and living overseas. Federal law prescribes they be sent out at least 30 days before an election and this year that means Oct. 4, she said.

Snohomish and other counties have already mailed out a limited number of specially prepared ballots to those in the military who won’t be reachable after Oct. 4. Some ballots in Pierce County already have been returned with votes marked. What will happen with them is unclear until the court acts, Reed said.

He is angry with the state Democratic Party for waiting this long to make the challenge.

With the voter-approved top-two primary, candidates could describe their preferred political affiliation anyway they wanted — within an allotted space of 16 letters. The two candidates with the most votes moved on to the general election and were to carry those ballot preferences with them on to the general election ballot.

Final rules for the primary went out in April. Candidates filed in June, and Rossi made “GOP Party” his preference then. All told, 25 people on the November ballot are running with the “GOP Party” preference.

Thursday morning Reed, a Republican, rejected the Democratic Party request to stop counties from getting ballots printed. He said the legal action is little more than a campaign tactic.

“It’s no secret that Dino Rossi is a Republican,” he said.

Reporter Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com,