Cunningham Ruled Winner : Politics: San Diego judge rejects a claim by defeated Rep. Jim Bates that 44th District absentee ballots were verified improperly in November vote.

Rejecting a claim by defeated Rep. Jim Bates (D-San Diego) that local officials improperly handled ballots in last month’s election, a San Diego Superior Court judge decided Thursday that Republican challenger Randall (Duke) Cunningham defeated Bates fairly.

Judge Jeffrey T. Miller ruled that San Diego County election officials followed proper procedures in verifying the large number of absentee ballots cast in the 44th District congressional race. Dismissing Bates’ claim that invalid ballots might have been tabulated, Miller officially named Cunningham the winner.

In the Nov. 6 race, Cunningham unseated Bates--who had held the 44th District seat since 1982--by a margin of 46% to 45%. A recount completed Dec. 7 showed that Cunningham, a highly decorated former Navy fighter pilot, defeated Bates by 1,660 votes out of about 108,000 cast.

“I never had any doubt what the ruling would be,” said Cunningham, who had taken notes during the hearing with a Stars and Stripes pen.

Sporting a lapel pin made up of red, white and blue stones shaped into an American flag and displaying a tie tack that read “United States Congress,” Cunningham complained after the hearing that the Bates suit was an annoyance. To the end, Bates “has cost me money, time, anything he can,” Cunningham said.

Bates, who had conceded that the lawsuit was a long-shot bid to reverse in court what happened at the polls, did not attend the hearing. But later Thursday, in a telephone interview, he said the suit had merit.

“We never felt that the suit would turn around the election,” Bates said. “But I did have a lot of supporters who wanted me to follow through with it because there were so many complaints and allegations with respect to the absentee program.”

He said it is unlikely he will appeal.

Bates claimed in his lawsuit that San Diego County Registrar of Voters Conny McCormack violated state law by failing to compare signatures on absentee ballot applications with voters’ original registration records.

The registrar’s office delivered absentee ballots to any applicant whose request listed the same address as that on the original registration affidavit, Bates’ lawyer, Mike Aguirre, told Judge Miller on Thursday.

Then, if and when a ballot was returned, Aguirre said, the registrar’s office compared the signature on the outside of a special identifying envelope, which contained the ballot, to the original registration papers.