http://www.komotv.com/stories/33992.htm
Less Than 200 Votes Seperate WA Governor Hopefuls
November 15, 2004
OLYMPIA - Democrat Christine Gregoire took the tiniest of leads on Monday night against Republican Dino Rossi in the governor's race.
Gregoire edged ahead by 158 votes out of more than 3 million cast, after days of trailing Rossi. Democrats celebrated when they heard that election officials in King County - which favors Gregoire - discovered they had 10,000 more uncounted ballots than previously estimated.
"I'm beginning to think we might win this," said state Democratic Party Chairman Paul Berendt.
Rossi's campaign was thrown for a loop by the King County news - just the latest twist in the two-week roller coaster ride that is the 2004 gubernatorial election.
"We definitely want to find out where all these additional ballots came from," Rossi spokeswoman Mary Lane said. "We can still win this thing. Obviously it's going to be a much closer race, where literally every vote will count."
On Monday morning, King County estimated it had about 11,000 votes remaining to count. But that estimate was revised upward to 21,000.
Bobbie Egan, spokeswoman for the King County elections office, said the county verified more provisional ballots than expected and absentee ballot turnout was higher than projected. Election workers counted 17,000 ballots Monday, so 4,000 remain to be counted. Wednesday is the deadline for counties to certify their election results to the secretary of state.
Gregoire has served as state attorney general for the last 12 years and ran on her record of public service, while also promising change in the governor's office. Rossi, a commercial real estate agent and two-term state senator, touted his business experience and told voters he would be the real candidate for change. No Republican has been elected governor in Washington since 1980.
Also on Monday, Gregoire supporters turned in affidavits from 400 King County voters whose provisional and absentee ballots were in question. The affidavits should enable those ballots to be counted.
Across the state, about 22,000 votes remain to be counted. Of the six counties with more than a thousand votes outstanding, three favor Rossi - Benton, Skagit and Yakima - and three favor Gregoire - King, Thurston and Whatcom.
Libertarian Ruth Bennett has 62,000 votes, about 2 percent of the total.
After the votes are counted and Washington finally has a winner, the next big question is whether there will be a recount.
If the margin of victory is less than 2,000 votes and one-half of 1 percent, state law requires an automatic recount, funded by taxpayers. The recount would probably take about four days, state Elections Director Nick Handy said.
Candidates and political parties can also demand a recount themselves, regardless of how close the election is - provided they pay for it. A machine recount costs 15 cents a ballot, or about $501,000 for the governor's race, and a hand recount costs 25 cents a ballot, or $835,000. The candidates would have to wait until after Dec. 2, when the secretary of state certifies election results, to ask for a recount.
None of the six recounts in statewide elections since 1968 has changed the final results of an election.
Both campaigns played their recount strategies close to the vest on Monday, preferring to concentrate on the actual count.
Lane said Republican observers in polls and vote-counting places haven't reported any kind of shenanigans, so the Rossi campaign is satisfied for now that the first count will be accurate.
Spokesman Morton Brilliant said Gregoire's campaign wants to make sure valid votes get counted in the first place. If it comes to a recount, he said, "We'll be prepared."
Don't worry, we expected this when King County did their dump. She went ahead but her lead has already dwindled down to only 158.
Don't sweat it.