[

The Coeur d’Alene Press still can’t accurately report facts about the Coeur d’Alene election contest.   Take a look at this headline and subheadline from page A8 of today’s Press.

[

There is a glaring error in the subheadline.  Jim Brannon is not a candidate for anything, but the Press still can’t grasp that fact.

Shortly after the election canvass, Jim Brannon and his supporters identified that the state’s election laws do not specify when an election has ended.  In Brannon’s case, did it end on the evening of November 3, 2009, after the ballots had been counted?  Or did it end on November 9, 2009, when the Coeur d’Alene Mayor and City Council rubber-stamped the vote tabulations provided by the Dan and Deedie Show?  Or did it end on January 5, 2010, when District Court Judge Simpson authorized the new City Council to be sworn in?

Apparently in the minds of Press publisher Jim Thompson, editor Mike Patrick, and reporter Tom Hasslinger, the November 3, 2009, election campaign is still going on.  They persist in referring to Brannon as a candidate rather than as a former candidate.  The November 3, 2009, election ended long ago.  When the election contest was filed, any new election that might eventually result from it would be a new election.  It could not be a continuation of the old election.  Since it would be a new election, all candidates would presumably be required to file papers of candidacy.  Thereafter, only those qualified electors who filed the required candidacy papers for the new election would be a “candidate” in the new election.

Hasslinger also has a vocabulary problem.  In the fifth paragraph, he quoted Brannon thus:

“States have an interest in preventing a delusion of the votes at the state level,” Brannon said.  “Individuals who do not meet residency or citizenship requirements can easily vote.”

If only that had been what Brannon said.  What he said was

“States have an interest in preventing a dilution of the votes at the state level,” Brannon said.  “Individuals who do not meet residency or citizenship requirements can easily vote.”

Oh, well.  Close enough for Coeur d’Alene, I suppose.

Darn those pesky facts!