The non-story

From the Seattle Post Intelligencer, Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges upheld the election of Democrat Christine Gregoire to the Governorship.

Bridges said there was evidence that 1,678 illegal votes were cast in the 2004 election, including 1,391 votes by felons. However Bridges said there was no evidence that Gregoire benefitted from the illegal votes.

Bridges said there was also no evidence of misconduct by election workers or that the probems with the election were the result of "partisan bias."

The judge said the Republican lawsuit failed to meet the high standard necessary for the courts to intervene in an election.

"When the people have spoken, their verdict should not be disturbed by the courts," Bridges said.

Before he issued his ruling, Bridges said he had been asked to send a message with his decision. However, he said "this court is not in the position to fix the deficiences in the election process."

Rather, Bridges said it was up to voters to pressure lawmakers to take such steps. "It is the voters who should send the message."

The Republicans are expected to appeal to the State Supreme Court, where either the Court will refuse to hear it or the Republicans will lose again in yet another attempt to appoint Republicans to office via the Courts. These nuts seem to think that the Courts are the ruin of Democracy whenever they rule for expanded rights, but then want those same Courts to overturn election results to put their people in power. Hypocrites.