EVERETT — The Snohomish County auditor dismissed a challenge against the voter registration of a former Everett City Council candidate on Friday.
Friday’s ruling means Niko Battle, who sought the District 4 seat in Everett, will remain a registered voter, but has no effect on a Snohomish County Superior Court judge’s previous ruling barring Battle from the ballot, auditor’s office spokesperson Sierra Cornelius wrote in an email.
In his ruling, Snohomish County Auditor Garth Fell called evidence submitted by the challenger, John Dimas, “unauthenticated hearsay,” Fell wrote in his decision.
“The Auditor considers the Challenge materials for purposes of the decision, but the lack of authentication or any supporting testimony lessens the weight that the Auditor places on these records,” he wrote.
In voter registration challenges, the burden of proof lies on the challenger, Fell wrote, but Dimas’ challenge did not meet that burden. Challengers must provide either the challenged voter’s actual address or alternative evidence to verify that the challenged voter does not live at their listed address, Fell wrote.
Dimas’ most direct evidence was a letter from the manager of a south Everett apartment complex, who said she had never seen Battle on the premises and was not listed on a lease. But that evidence, according to Fell, largely answered the question of “whether Battle should reside” there, not “whether he does, in fact reside there,” he wrote.
During the hearing, Battle maintained that state law does not require individuals to be listed on a lease to prove residency and said the letter from the manager was a private dispute, not a matter that should disqualify him from being able to vote.
Niko Battle had faced the voter registration challenge along with a challenge in court over questions regarding his residency. On Sep. 9, a Superior Court judge found Battle ineligible to hold the seat. The judge, Richard Okrent, did so because Battle didn’t provide supporting evidence to show he was a resident of south Everett’s District 4, Okrent said in his ruling.
Battle has the opportunity to appeal the judge’s ruling but has not yet done so, court records show.
Battle earned the most votes in the August primary. Due to Okrent’s ruling, the second and third place candidates — Alan Rubio and Luis Burbano — are set to be the two candidates on the November ballot.
Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.
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