Washington Rejects Ballots

      On Tuesday, the Washington Supreme Court rejected a Democratic lawsuit that called to include previously rejected ballots in the states recount.

" 'Recount' means the process of retabulating ballots and producing amended election returns," the court declared in a decision signed by all eight justices who heard arguments in Monday's emergency court hearing.

"Thus, under Washington's statutory scheme, ballots are to be 'retabulated' only if they have been previously counted or tallied," the decision states.

Democratic Party lawyer David Burman had estimated there were about 3,000 valid ballots that Democrats thought were possibly eligible for counting under the law. That was a fraction of the 15,000 additional ballots the Democrats hoped would be reviewed as part of the ongoing recount in the governor's race.