Reply #8: we'll win next week [View All]

And from a later article by the same writer at
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aplocal_story.asp?category=6420&slug=WA%20Governor%20Recount%20Legal

But King County, the state Democratic Party and the secretary of state's office disagreed with the ruling. They point to the state law - RCW 29A.60.210 - referenced in the Supreme Court ruling.
This law says, in full:

"Whenever the canvassing board finds that there is an apparent discrepancy or an inconsistency in the returns of a primary or election, the board may recanvass the ballots or voting devices in any precincts of the county. The canvassing board shall conduct any necessary recanvass activity on or before the last day to certify the primary or election and correct any error and document the correction of any error that it finds."
Because the hand recount has not yet been certified, the Democrats and King County argue, the King County Recanvassing Board has the right to go back and correct errors.
Republican Secretary of State Sam Reed joined their argument. Thomas Ahearne, a lawyer representing Reed's office, said Friday in court that the secretary of state's office has interpreted state law the same way King County has.
"The recount statute does not require wholesale reconsideration" of rejected ballots, Ahearne said, but "it does grant each county canvassing board the discretion to recanvass selected ballots if there are discrepancies or inconsistencies ... that is what King County did."

State Elections Director Nick Handy said other county canvassing boards have reconsidered ballots and added them to the first or second recounts in the governor's race. King County's case is extreme in the number of ballots involved, but Handy said it's the same legal principle.

"In similar situations in other counties, ballots like these were counted," Handy said.


With all of this, I don't see how that judge's ruling can stand.