99 felons purged from voter rolls

King County election officials purged 99 felons from the voter rolls yesterday as prosecutors announced they would challenge an additional 93 felons they claim are illegally registered to vote.

Officials said they will continue to scour the voter rolls for felons. They're acting in light of a Republican lawsuit challenging the validity of the razor-thin election of Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire and in response to a Seattle Times investigation that found at least 129 felons in King and Pierce counties had voted in the 2004 general election.

Earlier this month, Republicans released a list of 1,135 registered voters statewide who they said were felons who had not had their right to vote restored by a judge. Hundreds of those felons, however, appear to have been juveniles who did not lose their right to vote once they turned 18. Republicans said they are modifying their list.

Dan Donohoe, a spokesman for the county prosecutor's office, said his office is investigating nearly 800 alleged felon voters named by the Republicans.

The 93 challenges announced yesterday came from that list, and additional challenges are likely, Donohoe said.

Prosecutors mailed certified letters to the last known address of each of the 93 yesterday, alerting them to an administrative hearing March 31.

"This represents phase two of our ongoing efforts to remove the names of ineligible voters from the list that was referred to my office," King County Prosecuting Attorney Norm Maleng said in a news release. "We will continue this effort until all unqualified voters are removed from the list."

The 99 felons whose registrations were revoked yesterday came from The Times' investigation, published in January. They were given an opportunity to challenge the revocations at a hearing last week, although only a handful showed up and none of the appeals succeeded.

County elections director Dean Logan said in a release: "We are committed to keeping our voter rolls clean and ensuring voters meet all the legal requirements to vote in King County."

A convicted felon can vote only if he completes his sentence and court-ordered community service, pays all fines and restitution and obtains an order from a judge.

Failed Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi is trying to nullify Gregoire's 129-vote victory, claiming the election was flawed. Central to that claim is that hundreds of illegal votes were cast by felons and other ineligible voters and that there were serious mistakes by poll workers.

Mike Carter: 206-464-3706 or mcarter@seattletimes.com