Posted on 11/15/2004 7:38:28 PM PST by kennedy
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."
A real steal. :(
The open-borders dopers might cost us another election.
>A time honored Demo. traditionl....<
Ah, yesss - I know it well, having lived many years in Portland, OR. I'm willing to send Rossi what I can to help if it comes down to his having to request a recount.
Libertarian Ruth Bennett has 62,000 votes, about 2 percent of the total.
I don't want to offend any Libertarians out there, but do you realise what the H*&& you are doing? Rossi needed your wasted votes badly.
"election officials in King County — which favors Gregoire — discovered they had 10,000 more uncounted ballots than previously estimated.
If I were Rossi I'd have lawyers all over this. What an absolute load of crap...so reminicent of what happened in 2000.
this is exactly why the election process in Washington state has got to change...
it is unconscionable that the total number of votes is not known on election day....
we keep coming up with these thousands and thousands of votes...where the hell have they been....
my other beef....why are provisional ballots in King county...a traditional leftist bastion.....more EQUAL than the provisional ballots in other counties...other counties who did not give them second looks...like traditional Republican areas....
If the Gop lets this one get away again, without challenge, I will be furious....
they let cantwell get away with the last second Provisional votes, and now Gregoire is doing it....
I will never, ever give to the Republican party again if they don't stand up and challenge this election as well as seek names of all provisional voters in the state to contact and clarify their ballots.....
Were the 400 votes in affidavit (all of which pro-rats) already counted? Please help me.
If not, the difference between Rossi e Gregoire is already 550 votes, while 4000 votes of King have to be counted and 3 other counties are pro rats! How in the hell...
they must have shipped the additional 10,000 ballots from the same ballot factory that bill richardson found 20,000 for new mexico. it didn't work for him, and it likely won't work in WA.
After the Cantwell election, this doesn't surprise me at all. You knew the liberals would "find" enough votes to win at the last minute, just like in 2000. They sent their little serfs into the streets and selectively got their supporters to sign affidavits and I'm sure, yeah real sure, that they went out equally vigorously and found the Republicans who had similar problems. Yep, Democracy. For sure.
There's an awful lot more to the Libertarian contingent than "open-borders dopers", but don't let facts get in your way.
And if they "cost us another election", maybe we should think about how to win their support, instead of calling them names.
It would appear that they are voting for a candidate whom they prefer over either of the GOP or Democrat candidates.
Rossi needed your wasted votes badly.
Then the Oregon GOP should try to figure out how to gain their support.
It's not like those votes are "owed" to the Republicans or anything. If the Oregon GOP wants those votes, the Oregon GOP should set about to earn them.
If not, then we'll find 10,000 more ballots.
If our new AG, McKenna is honest, it won't make any difference because Gregoire is going to wind up in prison for public corruption/RICO.
Exactly the plan. Second election in a row.
Yes, we wouldn't expect libertarians to vote for a Conservative, Christian family man of integrity.
What was depressing was to see how consistant nearly every Seattle vote was. Kerry-Murrray-Gregoire-McDermott. If the envelope had a Seattle address, it almost certainly contained a dem. ballot. Yesterday I saw only 29 votes come through for Rossi from the ballots my two "duplicators" were working on. Where all these extra ballots came from is a good question. When we finished last night, they told us all ballots were done except for the really questionable ones that were going to be decided by the elections board (or whatever they're called) and the lawyers.
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