U.S. District Judge Ricardo Martinez issued an Order of Dismissal today in the case of WA State Republican Party, et al v. Sam Reed, et al.

This was the state Republican Party’s lawsuit concerning the hand-counting of optical scan ballots that were rejected by machines. The state Republican Party had apparently argued that since such a hand inspection wouldn’t be followed in the 14 counties that use punch-card ballots, the existence of different counting processes in different counties violated the equal protection and due process clauses of the U.S. and Washington constitutions.

The case is mentioned here on the State GOP website and also discussed here in a Seattle Times story.

Judge Martinez had previously denied the state Republican Party’s motion for a preliminary injunction, and scheduled a hearing on the motion for tomorrow—November 30. (That’s two days before the state is supposed to certify results of the statewide recount.)

I called the Judge’s chambers on my lunch break to get the time for the hearing, only to find out that the state Republican Party had filed a voluntary notice of withdrawal with the Court on Wednesday, November 24, and that the judge dismissed the case today. The Order of Dismissal had not yet been posted at the time of my call, so I have not yet seen it. (I believe access is limited to attorneys admitted to federal court with PACER accounts.)