A judge turned down the House Republican Organizational Committee’s lawsuit yesterday seeking a restraining order on the counting of ballots in the 6th Legislative District race, but that will not deter them from going forward with their lawsuit to revisit the original ballots that were made into duplicates.

House Minority Leader Richard DeBolt (R-Chehalis) said that, because less than one percent of the more than 7,000 duplicate ballots would need to be incorrect in order to overturn John Driscoll’s 63 vote lead over Rep. John Ahern, the possible discrepancies need to be explored.

"I've always been an advocate of open government," DeBolt told PolitickerWA.com. "The last thing we need to do is have people not trust our election system."

DeBolt said he understood the growing pains that come with switching to an all-mail voting system, as Spokane County recently did, but suggested that keeping ballots locked away was not the solution.

A hand recount, which historically hinders Republican chances, will take place in early December no matter the outcome of the lawsuit.

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