A group of Washington residents have filed a lawsuit with the state Supreme Court asking the state's votes for President-elect Barack Obama be set aside.
James E. Broe of King County and 12 others claim Obama never established that he is a natural-born American citizen as required by the Constitution, and that Obama ran under a false name.
A similar suit before the election was dismissed in King County.
Obama is set to receive the state's 11 electoral votes when the Electoral College delegates meet in Olympia on Dec. 15.
Dave Ammons, spokesman for Secretary of State Sam Reed's office, said in an e-mail to the Herald that the state's position is that Reed is not required and does not have the authority to investigate the qualifications of candidates for president and vice president.
"Under state law, the Republican and Democratic tickets are automatically placed on the fall ballot after the national party conventions," Ammons said. "Other tickets can qualify by having 1,000 registered Washington voters sign petitions at conventions. The state Elections Division examines the signatures, but does not investigate the qualifications of the candidates."
The lawsuit claims that Reed has known about questions concerning Obama's eligibility since September, but did nothing to determine whether Obama was a lawful candidate.
The claims rest on Obama's alleged failure to provide a certificate of live birth from his home state of Hawaii. Court documents say Obama instead has published a document called a Certification of Live Birth, which the suit claims does not prove Obama was born on American soil.
The suit also claims Obama was adopted by a stepfather in Indonesia and took the legal name Barry Soetoro, and that Barack Hussein Obama was not his legal name when he filed as a candidate in Washington. The claims are based on school records published on the TV show Inside Edition, according to court documents.
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