Ferry County Prosecuting Attorney James von Sauer reads into the wee hours to keep up with court filings in the state's challenged gubernatorial election because his county can't afford to pay overtime to the other attorney in his office.

The slew of e-mailed court documents in the case has clogged his tiny Eastern Washington county's computer system on several occasions, he said, at times preventing him from sending or receiving messages. "It's either hire someone else, which is not in the realm of possibility, or work myself silly, which is about the only option available," von Sauer said.

Counties across the state are having trouble keeping up with the massive amount of paperwork and research involved in the Republican Party's lawsuit against the state's 39 counties, their auditors and Secretary of State Sam Reed. The state party and Dino Rossi, who lost the governor's race to Christine Gregoire by 129 votes in a hand recount, argue the election was so flawed that the court should order a revote.

The GOP says many of the ballots cast in the election should not have been counted, including ballots from deceased people and convicted felons who had not had their voting rights restored. The Republicans say the number of ballots in question is larger than the margin of victory in the governor's race.

The lawsuit, filed in Chelan County Superior Court, has produced reams of legal responses from the defendants. In addition, both the Republicans and the Democratic Party have asked county election departments to provide them with data and answer questions about the election.

"You just have no idea of what it entails until you start putting this information together and answering these innuendoes," said Yakima County Auditor Corky Mattingly, who is president of the Washington State Association of County Auditors. "I understand why they're doing it, and I understand we have to provide the information. ... I just don't necessarily find it useful."

Yakima County's computer system crashed this week under the volume of a huge e-mailed attachment related to the case. Mattingly believes the plaintiffs are endangering a Feb. 8 special election scheduled in some counties by demanding so much information. County election staffs are so busy preparing information for the lawsuit that they haven't had adequate time to prepare for their local elections.

For smaller counties, in particular, where elections offices often work under shoestring budgets, the added burden of dealing with the lawsuit is troublesome. The Secretary of State's Office expects to spend at least $250,000 in legal costs on the suit, according to Assistant Secretary of State Steven Excell.

State Republican Party Chairman Chris Vance said he has no sympathy for the larger counties, especially those that made mistakes in the election. And he said the Republicans have already made agreements with 10 small counties to reduce the amount of information they have to provide. In exchange, the counties would have to agree to provide some information quickly and not to oppose a call for a new election if Republicans win the lawsuit.

"We recognize that the biggest problem lies in the biggest counties," he said. "Our lawyers are willing to talk to and negotiate with county prosecutors and county auditors."

Spokane County Auditor Vicky Dalton has fought to limit the amount of data being sought by Republicans in their lawsuit. She said the plaintiffs are asking for information she doesn't even keep track of. For example, at one point the plaintiffs had asked for the number of absentee ballots and the number of military ballots cast in the election. But Dalton said she doesn't keep the two types of ballots separate. The Republicans withdrew that request.

Dalton says it's not fair for her to have to produce the information when the plaintiffs haven't even said whether Spokane County has done anything wrong. "I was like, 'Why? What are you looking for? What are you trying to prove?' " she said.

Snohomish County Election Manager Carolyn Diepenbrock said she has been working Saturdays just to keep up, especially as her office is planning for a Lake Stevens School District bond election next month.

"The smaller counties that don't have the resources available to them that the larger counties do, this is a huge burden for them," she said.

But King County Elections Director Dean Logan said large counties face their own challenges because they have many more ballots and much more information to deal with.

"I think that for all of us around the state ... it's a significant impact," he said.

Even more significant are the public-records requests that have inundated his office since the election, he said. Media, public-interest groups, attorneys and individuals have requested information.

"While it's had a significant impact, we recognize the importance of being responsive and ensuring that the court has what it needs to make a decision in this case," he said.

In some counties, the added work is underscored by the stress of a tense internal political environment where the branches of government sometimes disagree about how their county should respond to the lawsuit.

In Snohomish County, for example, the Democratic prosecuting attorney filed a motion two weeks ago to dismiss the case. The Republican-controlled County Council balked, saying prosecutors never consulted them. At their request, the attorneys withdrew the motion five days later.

But Snohomish County Auditor Bob Terwilliger, a Democrat who is named separately in the lawsuit, filed his own motion to dismiss the case. A hearing that could lead to dismissal of the case will be held Friday. When Republicans filed their lawsuit Jan. 7, the three Republican Whitman County Commissioners signed a letter to Secretary of State Reed demanding a revote.

That upset the county's auditor, who felt they were taking a shot at her.

"I'm a Republican and, of course, Mr. Rossi was my candidate, but what I didn't like was the tone of the lawsuit that alleges that county election officials had knowingly or willingly tampered with the ballots somehow," said Eunice Coker, the county auditor.

Coker and the commissioners have since agreed to a neutral position on the lawsuit.

Excell, the assistant secretary of state, worries that county budgets will run short later in the year because they had to absorb the cost of the lawsuit. County officials said they haven't tallied the financial cost of the suit, but many have hired extra help and spent hours of overtime.

"We've got a legislative agenda to deal with. We've got elections to deal with," said Mattingly. "It's just — life goes on, and we're still dealing with this."

Emily Heffter: 425-783-0624 or eheffter@seattletimes.com