Huckabee challenges caucus result

Spokane residents who thought they were done with presidential politics after Saturday’s caucuses – or at least due for a brief hiatus until a bit closer to next week’s primary – will have to think again.

Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee is questioning the results of the GOP caucus in Washington state, which show him slightly behind chief rival John McCain. The Huckabee campaign dispatched a lawyer from its national headquarters to talk with state and national Republican officials about a decision to call the contest for McCain on Saturday night with more than 10 percent of the precincts untallied.

A campaign spokeswoman also said they’ve heard from supporters about improperly run caucuses.

“We want to make sure all the delegates were counted fairly and accurately,” Alice Stewart, a spokeswoman for the Huckabee campaign, said Monday.

Meanwhile, some counties in Washington state are reporting as many as one in four ballots being turned in for the primary won’t be counted. Voters are neglecting – or possibly refusing – to mark the “oath” box on their envelope that says they consider themselves a member of the same party as the candidate for which they’ve voted.

The number of ballots without that mark is only about 3 percent of the total returned in Spokane County thus far. But Auditor Vicky Dalton said her office is getting numerous calls from voters upset about the system, which includes a primary that the state Democratic Party won’t use for selecting presidential delegates and the state Republican Party will use to award only half its delegates.

The half to be awarded from Saturday’s GOP caucuses are also in doubt. The state party on Monday night was reporting results that showed 96 percent of the precincts counted, with 25.6 percent of the delegates elected supporting McCain, 23.3 percent supporting Huckabee and 20.7 percent supporting U.S. Rep. Ron Paul. The remainder support former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney or are uncommitted.

There was a 2-percentage-point margin between McCain and Huckabee when State Chairman Luke Esser declared McCain the winner on Saturday night, with about 87 percent of the precincts counted.

The precinct caucuses are the beginning of a long process rather than a single event like a primary, so neither Esser’s declaration nor the percentage breakdown of stated preferences locks in the delegates needed by campaigns for the presidential nomination. The percentages can shift in subsequent meetings at the county and state level.

While a lawyer from the Huckabee campaign met with Esser and other GOP officials Monday, Stewart said the campaign was receiving complaints from supporters who attended their caucuses. Some were concerned that the meetings were not properly organized, that the rules weren’t adequately explained, that participants felt rushed to make a decision and that people who showed up late for the 1 p.m. meetings were not allowed to participate.

Because caucuses are difficult to understand for many voters and usually poorly attended, similar complaints plague the meetings in most presidential years. But in most presidential years, the nominee is known before the Washington caucuses are held, the races are not close and such complaints aren’t likely to make a difference in the results.

This year, with Huckabee still contesting the nomination and the results close, such complaints could prompt calls for more scrutiny of the process. The Huckabee campaign is using a refrain that was heard during the close and hotly contested Washington gubernatorial contest of 2004.

“Let every vote count,” Stewart said.

For the Feb. 19 primary, elections officials already know that some votes won’t count because voters have not checked a box on the return envelope next to their signature that says they consider themselves a party member. Unless that box is checked, the ballot for a presidential candidate cannot be tallied. If the box for one party is checked and the ballot is marked for the other party’s candidate, that ballot also cannot be counted.

If the ballot contains nonpartisan issues like levies or bond issues, however, those votes will be counted, even if the party affirmation isn’t checked.

The presidential primary is the only election in the state that requires such a declaration of party membership.

Estimates on ballots that have been returned without the signature and party affirmation range from 27 percent in Yakima County, 23 percent in Chelan County and more than 20 percent in King County, to 5.65 percent in Pend Oreille County, 5 percent in Lincoln County and 3 percent in Spokane County.

Some voters are confused, said Dalton, Spokane’s chief elections officer. Others are unhappy that even if they check the box as a Democrat and vote for a Democratic candidate, the state party is refusing to use those results in awarding delegates.

Late Monday afternoon, Dalton said she had just finished a phone conversation with a 71-year-old woman who was so angry she said she was never going to vote again.

“I spent 10 minutes trying to convince her that the best revenge is to keep voting,” Dalton said.