05/25/2005

By REBECCA COOK  / Associated Press

King County's mail ballot supervisor raised concerns about the county's inability to track ballots as early as spring of 2004, she testified Wednesday in the gubernatorial election challenge trial.

Mail ballot supervisor Nicole Way testified she repeatedly told her supervisors that the county elections department couldn't tell how many ballots were being mailed out or received back. About two-thirds of King County's 900,000 votes in the November election were mail ballots.

Under questioning by GOP attorney Harry Korrell, Way described how she and other workers tried to create a computer spreadsheet to track the ballots they were mailing out, but eventually gave up.

"Why did you think it was important to know how many ballots had been issued?" Korrell asked.

"I knew that we would need to report it to the state," Way said.

"Are there other reasons you can think of?" Korrell asked.

"To make sure that you don't receive more ballots back than you mail out would be one reason," Way replied.

Way said she repeatedly talked to her direct supervisor, Garth Fell, and his boss, Elections Superintendent Bill Huennekens, about the problems.

Republicans have focused on King County in their legal challenge to the 129-vote victory of Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire. The GOP seeks to nullify the election and set up a new vote between Gregoire and Republican Dino Rossi. Both sides say they'll appeal a loss to the state Supreme Court, although the trial that began Monday before Chelan County Superior Court Judge John E. Bridges is important because his decisions will define the case.

GOP attorneys also planned to question Way about her statement in sworn depositions that she and Fell, an assistant elections superintendent, agreed to a Nov. 17 report that falsely showed that all absentee ballots had been accounted for. She said they couldn't get the numbers to add up otherwise.

In his deposition, Fell said Huennekens knew about the inaccuracies in the report before the county canvassing board certified the election results. That inaccurate mail ballot report is a key element of the GOP's case.

On Tuesday, Huennekens denied knowing in advance about inaccuracies in the Nov. 17 mail ballot report.

"I don't remember specifically" talking to Way or Fell about the report, Huennekens testified. GOP attorney Rob Maguire asked if he knew how the numbers were calculated.

"I can't say that I did, no," Huennekens said.

"Does King County know the true number of absentee ballots returned for the 2004 November general election?" Maguire asked.

"We physically have them," Huennekens replied. "I don't know that we have an exact number."

Referring to poll records with different numbers for people who voted and ballots counted, Democratic attorney Kevin Hamilton asked, "In fact that variation may not reflect voters at all, it may just reflect discrepancies in accounting paperwork, correct?"

"That's certainly possible," Huennekens replied.

Bridges ruled Tuesday that he will allow Republicans to present evidence that King County counted 875 more votes than it recorded registered voters. Democrats had sought to block that evidence, saying Republicans brought it up too late.

"I don't believe the claim is new," Bridges said, but added: "The court is not in a position at this time to determine that these are illegal votes."

Chelan County Auditor Evelyn Arnold testified Tuesday about how Chelan County prevents people from voting twice and accounts for all its ballots. Republicans said they wanted to contrast her clear answers to Huennekens' description of what happened in King County.

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On the Net:

TVW is broadcasting the trial on its cable station and online, http://www.tvw.org.