Apparently there was some sort of hearing yesterday in Judge Arend’s court regarding a bond related to the TRO. I have made available for download a copy of an amended declaration that was filed as part of the hearing, in which Democrats detail the changes in Rossi-won counties that showed an increase in the number of “ballots cast” from the initial count to the machine recount that benefited Dino Rossi:
Adams 7 Rossi +15 Benton 3 Rossi +1 Clallam 1 No change Clark 9 Rossi +4 Grant 52 Rossi +18 Island 4 Rossi +5 Kittitas 34 Rossi +7 Lewis 3 Rossi +2 Mason 3 Rossi +1 Pierce 9 Rossi +19 Skagit 147 Rossi +18 Spokane 7 Rossi +13 Snohomish 223 Rossi +11
It should be noted that neither party ever asked the courts to disallow these ballots, and in fact it would likely not be possible to outsort most of them after the fact. And some of these new ballots represent significant additions as a percentage of the total county vote; Republicans have offered no explanation for Grant and Kittitas, where the change is so large as to suggest that ballots went unprocessed during the initial certification.
I’m loathe to call a politician a hypocrite, because voters almost seem to demand it from their representatives. But for Dino Rossi to say that these ballots should count and that these errors should be excused, while arguing that King County’s negligence demands that the 723 should be disallowed, is hypocritical even for a politician.
As I’ve said before, errors like these occur in every election, but usually the vote isn’t so close that they make a difference. We need to fix those mistakes we can find — as is the long-established practice — count the votes, and move on.