Support erodes for elections director

King County's latest election snafu — the discovery of 93 more ballots that went uncounted last November — prompted two Republicans on the County Council to call yesterday for the resignation of elections director Dean Logan.

But more ominous for Logan's future was the erosion of support among the Democratic majority on the council. Democrats who previously expressed unreserved support were angry about how the situation had been handled.

In fact, about the only person publicly standing up for Logan yesterday was the man who has the power to fire him, County Executive Ron Sims.

Democratic council members were upset that Logan hadn't informed them that some uncounted absentee ballots were found in boxes of empty ballot envelopes March 24.

After the discovery, Logan, who was out of town and not available to comment yesterday, ordered a complete search of boxes containing more than half a million ballot envelopes but decided not to reveal the problem until the search was complete. When the search ended Saturday, election officials said a total of 93 valid but uncounted ballots had been found.

The discovery came as lawyers for the state's political parties argue in court over whether Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire's election was legitimate. Republican Dino Rossi was declared the winner initially, but after two recounts, Gregoire was declared the winner by 129 votes.

Rossi filed suit challenging the election, claiming errors and illegal votes made it impossible to know who is the true winner.

Councilmen Reagan Dunn, R-Bellevue, and Steve Hammond, R-Enumclaw, separately sent letters yesterday to Logan asking him to step down. Dunn cited "repeated and inexcusable mistakes."

Council Chairman Larry Phillips, D-Seattle, said it would be "premature" to call for Logan's resignation. But Phillips clearly was disturbed that he learned about the latest ballots when he opened his newspaper Saturday.

Before the incident, Phillips said, Logan had provided full information to the council. "This new information was contrary to that," he said. "Members are concerned that he resume the role he played previously, which is to be very open and very transparent."

Another Democrat, Bob Ferguson of Seattle, said Logan "misjudged badly on this one. ... It's not his call to say, 'Hey, I want to control how this gets leaked out to the media.' His job is to report right away to the executive, to the council, to the media and to the public."

All seven Democrats on the County Council endorsed a proposal by Ferguson and Julia Patterson, D-SeaTac, for a complete audit of the Elections Section. Democrats outnumber Republicans on the council seven to six.

Patterson praised Logan's past performance, but said, "This new revelation of these absentee ballots begins to shake my confidence a bit."

Republican council members yesterday urged U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to investigate the Nov. 2 election.

"We do not know whether widespread voting by unqualified voters or the unprecedented number of processing errors was a consequence of misfortune, willful neglect or orchestrated conduct," Dunn wrote to Gonzales in a letter signed by Dunn's five Republican colleagues.

Hammond said Logan had failed to give the King County Canvassing Board details of his office's inability to account for all ballots before election results were certified Nov. 17.

Logan is replacing all employees at the absentee-ballot facility until a personnel investigation is complete.

Sims, the Democrat who appointed Logan to clean up the troubled election operation 19 months ago, stood by him and said it would be "destabilizing and a major setback" to replace Logan.

"Mr. Logan is to be commended for ordering the search and for being forthright about the findings," Sims said in a statement. "The extent of the search and the personnel actions taken by Mr. Logan were appropriate. He, like all of us, was stunned by the discovery."

Sims' chief of staff, Kurt Triplett, said Assistant County Executive Sheryl Whitney was promptly told of the discovery of the first ballots March 24. Whitney, Logan and Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Don Porter discussed what to do.

"The decision of all three was that they complete the investigation of absentee-ballot files before they raised it with anyone. Their intent was when the check through all absentee ballots and provisional ballots was completed, they would inform everyone," Triplett said.

"We feel we did the right thing," Sims' spokeswoman, Carolyn Duncan, said yesterday. The administration took flak in connection with earlier election problems by releasing incomplete or incorrect information, she noted.

The County Council yesterday passed a bipartisan motion calling on Sims and his elections staff to present a plan for beefing up staff training and consolidating the county's scattered election facilities into a single site.

The motion, sponsored by Patterson, Ferguson and Kathy Lambert, R-Woodinville, also:

• Directs Sims to submit a report by July 4 on how auditing of ballots can be improved.

• Supports Logan for initiating personnel investigations into election errors and for "taking the necessary actions to improve the performance of the Elections Division."

• Directs Sims to make provisional ballots distinguishable from regular poll ballots so they won't be counted before voters' eligibility is verified.

• Calls on Sims to identify an election that could be conducted entirely by mail.

Keith Ervin: 206-464-2105 or kervin@seattletimes.com