UPDATE: The plot thickens. A group of Pollet supporters has filed a formal challenge to White’s candidacy in King County Superior Court, alleging that “County Elections Division Director Sherril Huff improperly allowed Scott White, a senior County political appointee with ties to the County Executive, to have his candidacy reinstated after White filed a signed form withdrawing his candidacy on Thursday, June 12th.”

One of the complainants, Karen Deyerle, says the group’s goal is “not to get Scott off the ballot or to get the elections office in trouble,” but “to have the court review and validate that everything was done properly according to the law.” She continues: “The question in all of our minds is exactly what happened, because we’ve been getting conflicting information.”

Deyerle says she also plans to file an ethics complaint against White with the county on Monday.

Full story, including background info, continues below.

Gerry Pollet, one of two Democrats seeking a seat in the state Legislature from the 46th district (see my exhaustive coverage here, here, and here) has received a letter from King County Elections that one supporter calls “the final word” on whether Pollet’s opponent, Scott White, will be allowed to remain in the race. (White attempted to withdraw from the race, but elections says they didn’t receive his withdrawal form—sent from a King County fax machine in violation of county ethics rules—until well past the deadline. Complicating matters, the form was time-stamped several hours before the deadline, a fact White attributes to a faulty fax machine and which Pollet has contested.)

And the final word is? White can stay in the race. According to the letter, written by elections director Sherril Huff,

Scott White’s attempted request to withdraw his candidacy was not filed with King County Elections by the deadline. According to King County Elections fax activity report, the withdrawal document was received by King County at 4:35 p.m. on June 12th. (The report states that the document was received at 15:35 and the fax machine is one hour behind.) Though Mr. White may have intended to file the withdrawal prior to the deadline, it was not received by King County Elections on time and as a result, RCW 29A.24.131 mandates that the request be rejected.

Contrary to the assertion in your letter, my decision to reject Mr. White’s request to withdraw is not based on any verbal request from him. It is based on my reading of RCW 29A.24.131 and the fact that Mr. White’s request to withdraw was not filed with my office before the deadline. Mr. White is being treated as any other candidate in the same situation would.

I’ve got a call in to Pollet to find out whether he plans to pursue his efforts to remove White from the race.

In other White-Pollet news, the two candidates received a dual endorsement from the 46th District Democrats last night (a separate vote from the official “nomination,” which went to Pollet after a confusing battle that’s documented here). That vote, too, was reportedly complicated.