The lawsuit aimed at removing Port of Vancouver Commission District 1 candidate Don from the November ballot was dismissed in Clark County Superior Court this morning.
“I think it was an attempt to take the vote away from the people of Clark County,” Orange said.
Judge Gregory Gonzales dismissed the suit filed by Vancouver resident Carolyn Crain because her petition to remove Orange from the November ballot was filed too late.
State law requires petitions challenging candidacy to be filed three days after candidates are certified to appear in the general election by the Secretary of State. Despite taking several months to prepare the case, Crain’s filing missed the deadline by a day.
During the hearing, Orange’s attorney, Knoll Lowney, said Crain filed the challenge because Orange’s opponents “feared losing” and hoped the court would “coronate their candidate,” Kris Greene.
Crain is a registered voter in the port’s District 1 and active in Republican politics. She alleged that Orange doesn’t actually live in an apartment he rents inside the district, but rather lives in a home outside the port district which he’s owned since the 1980s.
In the petition, which Crain filed with Clark County Superior Court on Thursday, she listed more than 26 allegations to support her claim.
“To be honest, what they’re accusing me of is not being home during the day and it’s true, I’m at my office right now,” Orange said in an interview with The Columbian.
Orange owns an auto repair business in Uptown Village and said he actively campaigns.
“That I don’t spend a lot of time at home I don’t think means anything and I don’t apologize for it.”
Orange said because Crain filed Thursday, he only had Friday to find an attorney with experience in voter law. Lowney, who is based in Seattle, said he only had the weekend to prepare a defense before Tuesday’s hearing.
Regardless, the case was dismissed because of its untimely filing, not on its merits, which, according to Crain’s attorney, Angus Lee, means the legitimacy of Orange’s residency is still in question.
“If Donald Orange was in fact a qualified candidate at the time he declared his candidacy, he would have addressed this issue today in court on the merits,” he said. “The only reason he didn’t address it on the merits is because he is not confident he will prevail — nor should he be. All he did was delay.”
Orange will have to defend himself at least one more time at an upcoming voter registration challenge hearing.
The challenge, filed by Crain and Jason Atkins, will be overseen by Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey.
The hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sept. 8. Crain and Atkins must prove by clear and convincing evidence that Orange’s voter registration is invalid.
Lee said he and Crain might bring the issue back into court after the November election, if necessary.
Orange said he’s not worried.
“We would have won this thing had it been decided rather than dismissed,” he said. “Had it not been dismissed they would have lost today. It’s clear where I live and I follow the rules very exactly.”
