Four counties admit voting mix-ups (Seattle PI)

[icymist]

Friday, April 1, 2005

Four counties admit voting mix-ups
Signatures on scores of provisional ballots weren't matched up

By GREGORY ROBERTS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Hundreds of votes were improperly counted in the November election when poll workers in four Eastern Washington counties tallied provisional ballots without first matching signatures on the ballot envelopes with those on file, officials have acknowledged.

The provisional ballots in those counties were checked to make sure names and addresses matched with registered voters, but the signatures were not verified as required by state regulation.

It's unclear what effect this could have on the legal challenge to Democrat Gov. Christine Gregoire's election, still pending in a Chelan County court, although both sides in the dispute say it helps their case.

Democrats say if unverified provisional ballots in King County are to be tossed out, so should those in Eastern Washington. That would be important if the court rules, as the GOP has argued, that improper votes should be subtracted from the tallies of Gregoire and her Republican opponent, Dino Rossi, in proportion to their percentages of overall vote totals. The four Eastern Washington counties all favored Rossi.

(More)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/218434_provisional01x.html

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The saga of Washington State's election continues....

[Lerkfish]

1. hmmmm...why is the repub push for an investigation moving ahead...

while the dems are told to get over it and are frustrated at every turn?