Nicole Brodeur / Times staff columnist
Silenced voices are heard

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It matters only what they represent: democracy at work, which is one of the best things in this country besides Graceland, the First Amendment and the annual showing of "A Charlie Brown Christmas."

To honor that, Washington state Democrats are doing hard and expensive things. They have raised some $730,000 toward a history-making hand recount and have asked the state Supreme Court to order counties to reconsider more than 15,000 ballots disqualified in last month's gubernatorial election.

The court will decide the issue Monday.

But it is not just certified Gov.-elect Dino Rossi and still-hopeful Christine Gregoire who will sleep better knowing that the person in the governor's bed deserves to be there.

It will also be people like Erin Kolkmeyer, 25, a Washington State University student who voted for the first time last month.

Kolkmeyer learned just last week that her provisional ballot had been thrown out: Her name never showed up on the list of Whitman County voters, even though she had registered.

"I feel really insignificant," Kolkmeyer told me. "I tried to be part of the process and have my voice heard, and it wasn't. And there is nothing that people can do about it."

So Kolkmeyer allowed herself to be named as a petitioner, with the Washington State Democratic Committee, in an effort to get the disqualified votes recounted.

So did Sanford "Sandy" Sidell, 55, who still doesn't know why his provisional ballot was tossed out.

"It's not just my vote for governor, but for president, the monorail recall, the Supreme Court justice," said Sidell, of Seattle. "They didn't count my vote for anybody.
 
"And I did everything that I was supposed to do," he said. "It's very frustrating."

Another plaintiff, Ricardo D'Jaen, wanted to ensure that his usually illegible signature could be read — so he printed his name out on his absentee ballot. The Board of Elections threw it out; and D'Jaen, who travels for his job, missed the deadline to confirm his vote.

"The principle is not so much who should win," said D'Jaen, 59, who lives on Mercer Island, "but that they should count every vote."

And then there are plaintiffs Don and Cheryl Henning, who drove 720 miles round trip from their new home in Clallam County to their old precinct in Klickitat County when they found that the address change they made didn't take.

But their names weren't on the Klickitat list, either, and their provisional ballots were tossed.

The Hennings and the others may be part of the Democrats' effort, Don Henning told me, but it doesn't matter who wins — only what they lost in the election process.

"I have the right to vote, and someone is taking that right from me," Henning said. "And I'm still not sure why."

Reach Nicole Brodeur at 206-464-2334 or nbrodeur@seattletimes.com.

Linus for president, blankets for all.