OLYMPIA, Wash. – Washington Republicans, considering whether to challenge Democrat Christine Gregoire’s razor-thin victory for governor, on Monday demanded a list of the 900,000 who cast ballots in vote-rich, problem-plagued King County.
Republican state Chairman Chris Vance said the party and other backers of GOP candidate Dino Rossi have nagging questions about the vote-count in the county that tipped the race to Gregoire by a scant 130 votes last week.
“We want to know who voted in the election, and it’s hard to know where we go from here (with a possible court challenge) before we get some answers,” Vance said in an interview.
“We’re mostly posing questions. King County is where we saw the votes changing. King County is the one county that was allowed to take ballots that were declared dead in November and bring them back to life in December.”
He stopped short of committing to a court challenge of the election results.
Secretary of State Sam Reed on Thursday will certify the latest recount, an unprecedented statewide hand tally, that last week put Gregoire ahead by 130 votes out of more than 2.8 million cast. Previous counts had favored Rossi.
The latest tally included 732 disputed ballots from King County, a Democratic stronghold. Those ballots were challenged by the GOP, but the state Supreme Court last week ruled that the county could legally recanvass the vote and consider those ballots. The ballots had been mistakenly thrown out because of problems scanning signatures into a computer.
The Republicans’ latest demand came as a public records request filed with King County Elections Director Dean Logan. The GOP wants a list of all voters who submitted ballots in the Nov. 2 general election, including ballots that were counted as well as those that were rejected, so that they may begin deciding how to proceed and whether to contest the election.
They also asked for policies regarding retention of documents, as well as documents regarding the issuance, delivery and processing of military and overseas ballots.
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