Decision is imminent in the Evergreen State’s never-ending election challenge lawsuit.

- Stay tuned to the indispensable Sound Politics blog.

- TVW, the state’s version of C-SPAN will broadcast the judge’s ruling live beginning at 12noon EST.

- My friends at 570AM KVI will also provide live coverage and instant analysis.

- Seattle P-I readers are posting predictions here.

Stay tuned…

1202pm EST. Here we go. Am doing rough transcription.

Judge Bridges: I have some introductory comments I’d like to make. For counsel: Nothing I say should be interpreted as a criticism of you or your clients. I’ve been asked to “send a message.” I’m going to decline that invitation…the voters of this state are in the position to demand that remedial measures be implemented immediately…[It will take more than] constructing new buildings and hiring more staff…[There's] a culture of inertia, selfishness…not taking responsibility, refusing to be held accountable…It’s the voters who should send the message.

State Supreme Court will review what I’ve done and what I haven’t done. They are exceedingly bright and diligent…they will use their collective wisdom to ensure justice is rendered in this case…Now prepared to make necessary finding of fact and conclusions…Unfortunately, I don’t have a spoonful of sugar for either of you or your clients with respect to this decision…

Findings of fact:

[Reciting elex results] The general elex for office of governor was held on Nov. 2, 2004… 1210pm. Still reciting chronology of recount, GOP lawsuit challenge filings, etc.

1219pm. Lists a handful of ballots he determines to be illegal votes.

But neither party has shown that felon voters cast votes for governor. There is no evidence before the court to suggest if these felons voted for a gubernatorial candidate.

- 6 individuals in Pierce County voted despite being excluded via mental incompetence exclusions.
- 19 ballots cast in name of deceased persons. No evidence who cast or for whom ballots were cast.
- Approx. 875 absentees in King County in excess of those received and verified.
- 190 more in Clark than voters credited with voting.
- 14 more in Kittitas than voters credited with voting.
-77 more in Spokane County than voters credited with voting.
- 20 more in Island County than voters credited with voting.
- 45 more ballots in Stevens County than voters credited with voting.
- 45 more in Cowlitz County than voters credited with voting.
- 14 more in Adams County than voters credited with voting.
- 135 approx in Pierce Count in excess of number of registered voters

By law, a person must be registered to receive absentee. Very little evidence to show ballots counted without signature verification.

Regarding provisional ballots: No evidence to indicate who cast or whether they marked them in the gubernatorial election.

[1227pm MM REMARK: This is not looking good for petitioners.]

1230: In King County: No evidence that anybody associated with any of the candidates had anything to do with causing errors. No evidence to suggest errors resulted from partisan bias…No evidence to suggest fraud or election misconduct. There is no evidence before the court to question ballot security.

***The court finds Gil/Katz election research scientifically unacceptable…they commit ecological fallacy…leads to erroneous and misleading results. Translation: Rejects theory of proportionate deduction. Statistical methods used by Gil/Katz ignore other significant factors in determining how a person is likely to vote.

No evidence ballots changed, ballots removed from ballot box.

Conclusions:

Election contests are governed by certain general principles…Judiciary should exercise restraint in intervening.

1678 illegal votes were cast in the 2004 general election. This includes felons established by [GOP] petitioners- 754, felons established by [Dems] 647, deceased-19, double votes-6, provisional votes in King County-96 provisionals in Pierce-79, plus handful of others.

There is no evidence that Gregoire received any felon votes. No evidence of misconduct by either Gregoire or Rossi.

Petitioners were required to establish not only that illegal/improper ballots were cast and/or that misconduct occurred, but also that petitions must establish the element of causation. Sez they didn’t establish…

…The court concludes that the election contest petition should be dismissed and the certification of Christine Gregoire as governor confirmed. From the election vote total of 2,812,675, there should be deducted 1,678.

Court adjourned.

Next stop: The Washington state supreme court.

Seattle Times liveblogged the court ruling as well. MSM coverage from CNN, AP, USA Today

Instant blogger reax…

Andy McDonald at Sound Politics: “As voters, we have all the power we need to make these changes, regardless of the decisions of any court, executive or legislature. Our remedy is to be more organized and to work for candidates who believe as we do. This is one election. There will be hundreds more in our lifetimes and we must contest them all. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”

Matt Rosenberg at Red State says Supreme Court reversal is unlikely and assesses the ruling’s political impact.

Reader Josh Cole e-mails:

In the Washington case, of course the petitioners could not “prove” their case, as they did not have the same access to the ballots as the people who fraudulently kept “finding” ballots and counting them. Had the petitioners been allowed to audit each ballot against the voter sign-in records and voter registrations, they could have effectively proved their case.
However, they were left offering common sense and conjecture in their case
as they were not allowed to see the evidence by the “keepers of the count.”

“It’s not who votes that counts, it’s who counts the votes!” – Josef Stalin

So, these other bloggers may be advocating better organization next time and
better get-out-the-vote efforts, but as long they allow people who will lie,
cheat and steal to count the votes, the honest folk will never win.

Brian Maloney covers the media coverage, with some interesting insights into Northwest media-politics incest.

Ed Morrissey at Captain’s Quarters sez:

“The state legislature should have demanded a revote, if for no other reason than the election the state held had obvious defects, especially in King County. That would have pre-empted the need for a lawsuit and allowed for a positive solution and a chance to fix the problems with illegal voters. The failure of the state legislature to act in protection of the credibility of its electoral system should be a historical black mark on this group of legislators.

Powerline’s John Hinderaker draws out the implications of the ruling for future election challenges. One word: futile.

Update: No appeal. Dino Rossi announces he will not take the case to the state Supreme Court.

***
Previous:

An update on the never-ending election in Wash. state
Best. Graduation. Prank. Ever.
The Felon Swing Vote
Breaking: GOP court win in Washington
Still more uncounted ballots in Washington state
Count every (bogus) vote
Washington State: the election mess continues
Uncounted ballots discovered in Washington State
The election mess in Washington State
Count every vote?
Did felons put Christine Gregoire over the top?
A do-over in Washington state?
The never-ending election
Election drama in Washington state 11/13/04
Election results in the Evergreen state 11/3/04

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