EVERETT — Residents who sued the Snohomish County Auditor demanding an audit of the 2020 election due to alleged but undocumented “electronic manipulation” of ballots could soon be squaring off with attorneys of the state Democratic Party.
And the legal battle may take place in federal court.
On Wednesday, lawyers for the state party filed motions to intervene in the lawsuits filed by Republican voters in eight counties — Snohomish, King, Pierce, Thurston, Clark, Whatcom, Lincoln and Franklin. They want all the cases — including one filed Sept. 16 against Snohomish County Auditor Garth Fell by 28 residents — tossed out.
“This lawsuit is entirely unfounded and appears to be little more than a coordinated political attack on the integrity of Washington elections,” lawyers for the Democrats wrote in a motion filed in the Snohomish County case. “Plaintiffs stand before the Court with nothing but speculation, fueled by conspiracy theories, asking for breathtaking and entirely unwarranted ‘relief.’”
The lead plaintiff in all the suits is Washington Election Integrity Coalition United, whose leader, Tamborine Borrelli of Gig Harbor, crisscrossed the state earlier this year in search of residents willing to join the effort.
The original lawsuits allege that auditors used uncertified voting equipment and manipulated thousands of ballots in an unspecified statewide race last year. Each suit seeks a “full forensic audit” conducted in the same manner, and with the same technology, as one carried out in Arizona earlier this year. That one found no evidence of fraud.
Thus far attorneys for Snohomish and Pierce counties took action to get their respective cases moved into federal court.
And U.S. District Court Judge Richard Jones notified the election integrity coalition that it cannot appear pro se and must get counsel by Nov. 1.
Borrelli, in an email, said the group wants those cases — and any others that land in federal court — remanded to Superior Court.
She described the actions of the Democratic Party lawyers as “nothing more than a power move by the political elite to interfere with cases brought by Washington voters to clean up the problems in our voting system.”
“We are bringing this case to protect the interests of the American voter regardless of party preference,” she wrote. “Whether Democrat, Republican, Independent or Green, that the voter will have confidence that their vote was counted as cast.”
Jerry Cornfield: jcornfield@heraldnet.com; 360-352-8623; Twitter: @dospueblos
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