Judge tosses Franklin lawsuit claiming 2020 voting fraud. Ballots won’t be released
Western Washington organization looking to prove fraud in the 2020 election won’t get to use Franklin County ballots.
Franklin County was the site of the last of six cases filed by the Washington Election Integrity Coalition United in counties across the state between September and October 2021.
The nonprofit, led by a Gig Harbor woman, echoed a chorus of voting fraud claims about the 2020 election.
The lawsuits looked to get local auditors to turn over ballots so that they could be examined, and to stop using the voting system used to count the ballots.
They alleged 6,000 votes were “flipped” and more than 400,000 votes were added or removed across the state.
A lawsuit filed in Snohomish County wanted to have a forensic audit of the ballots using Jovan Hutton Pulitzer, according to The Seattle Times.
Franklin and Lincoln counties were the only areas east of the mountains to face the lawsuits. Most have been moved into federal court where motions a pending asking for the cases to be dismissed.
Judge Cameron Mitchell ruled this week that the nonprofit needed to have an attorney file the case. Instead the nonprofit’s director, Tamborine Borrelli, and two Franklin County men, Ethan Carlson and Fred Carpenter, signed the complaint.
While individuals can represent themselves in court, nonprofits don’t have the same ability, said Callie A. Castillo, the attorney representing Franklin County.
Mitchell also pointed out the two Franklin County men didn’t sue within the time frame required by state law.
Even outside of the procedural elements, Mitchell said ballots are protected from public records requests.
“Those are confidential and they’re not to be disclosed,” he said. “The court also denies the complaint on that basis.”
Vote fraud claims
Attorney Virginia Shogren signed onto the case after it was initially filed, and argued that the state law allowed people to “question wrongful acts or neglect of duty by election officials.”
The coalition stayed away from pointing to particular races, but President Donald Trump and gubernatorial candidate Loren Culp have each alleged widespread voting fraud in the 2020 election.
The nonprofit instead argued that the county used an “unverified voting system” that allowed errors to occur.
Franklin County has attracted attention because it’s the only one in the state to use Dominion Voting System software to count ballots. The Democracy Suite system scans ballots that arrive by mail and records the votes.
The system also flags any ballots with faulty markings that election officials must look at by hand.
Dominion is one of the largest suppliers of voting technology in the country, but came under scrutiny by Trump supporters.
While the lawsuit claimed the system was not certified, the state and federal election agencies have approved of the system.
Franklin County Auditor Matt Beaton said in 2020 that they haven’t had any problems with the software. The machines are tested before the elections.
In addition, no one works with the machines by themselves. When votes are counted, there are always two people working together, Beaton said.
Franklin County, like others across the state, relies on paper ballots instead of using electronic voting. The ballots are audited to make sure there aren’t any problems after the election.
This story was originally published December 14, 2021 at 1:40 PM with the headline "Judge tosses Franklin lawsuit claiming 2020 voting fraud. Ballots won’t be released."