Opinion ID: 2551237
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Charge Seven

Text: ¶ 16 Charge seven alleges that Secretary Reed accepted final election returns from several counties even though they lacked material required by regulations. As noted above, charges in a recall action must be both factually and legally sufficient. Lee, 122 Wash.2d at 616, 859 P.2d 1244. Legal sufficiency requires the petitioner to allege a prima facie case of misfeasance, malfeasance, or violation of the oath of office, without justification. In re Recall of Feetham, 149 Wash.2d 860, 865, 72 P.3d 741 (2003). [2] Further, under the legally sufficiency requirement an elected official cannot be recalled for appropriately exercising the discretion granted him or her by law. Kast, 144 Wash.2d at 815, 31 P.3d 677; Chandler, 103 Wash.2d at 274, 693 P.2d 71. ¶ 17 Here, although appellants alleged that Secretary Reed wrongly accepted final election returns from counties without required materials before the trial court, they do not repeat those allegations on appeal and appear to have abandoned them. See Appellants' Br. at 7. Nonetheless, appellants' petition contends that Secretary Reed failed to receive written narratives from any Washington county reconciling election errors prior to his certification of the governor's election. Id. Appellants quote a public records request citing WAC 434-262-080 through -100 but otherwise offer no further specific factual arguments or any legal arguments in furtherance of this allegation. Id. The cited administrative rules involve errors identified by a canvassing board in reviewing election results submitted to it by the auditor for certification within the context of a particular count. Those rules do not involve discrepancies between an earlier count and a recount. Because appellants do not provide any reason why written narratives were required for inclusion in materials certified to the secretary of state, charge seven is legally insufficient.