SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. — Loren Culp, the Republican candidate for Washington Governor who lost to incumbent Democrat Jay Inslee in last November's election, has withdrawn his lawsuit against Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman and several county auditors, including Spokane County Auditor Vicky Dalton.
According to the Washington Secretary of State's Office, the lawsuit was dismissed "with prejudice," which means the lawsuit can't be refiled.
"Today we finally have an opportunity to shed light on some of the misleading and inaccurate assumptions made in this lawsuit, and can continue working to restore confidence with a swath of Washington’s electorate," Wyman is quoted as saying in the release.
Spokane County Auditor Vicky Dalton said her office has asked for proof of voter fraud, but Culp's campaign never provided evidence.
"We have just repeatedly asked that if anyone does have legitimate valid evidence of voter fraud or ballot fraud to please bring it to us and we will investigate. Despite many requests of Mr. Culp’s campaign, no information was ever provided to us here in Spokane County," Dalton told KREM.
In the lawsuit, the campaign claimed the voter registration address list data showed “many discrepancies and anomalies which destroyed the integrity of the vote in Washington.”
Claims made by the Culp campaign in the lawsuit include that ballots were sent to about 10,000 dead voters, of which about 7,800 were voted. Culp lost the election to Inslee by a final count of 545,177 votes.
“We want a free and fair election, and this one wasn't free and fair,” said Stephen Pidgeon, a Culp campaign attorney, had previously said. “I'm not saying it's fraudulent. I'm just saying it wasn't free and fair because the obligations imposed on the Secretary of State, she didn't meet.”
The lawsuit listed the auditors for Whatcom, Island, Skagit, King, Pierce, Thurston, Spokane and Clark counties.
KING 5 News contributed to this report.