Washington State Governor's Race--Certification (Live Thread)(Rossi (R) wins by 261 votes!)

Washington State Secretary of State ^ | 11/17/2004 | The Conservator

[TheConservator]

This is a LIVE THREAD for discussion of the impending certification of final results in the Washington State Governor's race, between Dino Rossi (R) and Christine Gregoire (D).

The Secretary of State is required to certify the final results this evening. As of 4:28 P.M. PST, Gregoire leads by 29 votes with 2521 votes from 4 or 5 counties left to be reported. King County (the Dem's stronghold) has apparently made its final report.

Washington State law requires a machine recount if the certified results show a difference of less than 2000, which now seems almost certain. It also requires a manual recount if the difference is less than 150 votes. A machine recount is estimated to take a week, a hand recount a month or more.

If the final result were a tie, the winner would be decided by lot.

[TheConservator]

Benton, Franklin, Grays Harbor, and Whitman counties have yet to report.

[jackbill]

I may be missing something, but what do you mean by "lot"?

It usually means flipping a coin, rolling the dice, cutting a deck of cards or drawing straws. I believe dueling is no longer allowed, the RATs being at a disadvantage since they hate guns.

[Wphile]

Sheesh...ANOTHER THREAD?? Okay, Gregoire up by 28. Hoping for Benton County to pull us over the top.

[commish]

I believe dueling is no longer allowed, the RATs being at a disadvantage since they hate guns.

Gregoire can use spitballs!!!

[unspun]

Let me ask the about Rossi's "leading indicators":

Is he pro-life?

Does he defend the 2nd Amendment?

Has he pledged to reduce taxes and make spending cuts?

[Fabozz]

New Mexico has the best system for this: By state law, when a race is tied the candidates play a hand of Five-Card Stud to determine the winner.

[Wphile]

My prediction stands at 370 for Rossi.

[Robert357]

I think that it is time for all Washington Voters to extract a pound of flesh out of King County for its gross incompetence.

Remember, King County Elections Dept. was recently responsible for not figuring out that its absentee primary ballots this year required "extra postage." Click for article on King County ballot postage problem

King County elections made four major mistakes in handling ballots during 2002/3 It got so bad the County Council got embarrassed and demanded that it be fixed and would not allow certain political patronage appointments to the elections office. Click hear to read all the horror stories about how badly King County Elections Dept was managed in 2003 and how Ron Sims would clean things up (NOT)

Since King County knows it has had a problem and is not capable of correcting the problem, it is time for the State of Washington to impose a solution upon King County, regardless of who becomes Governor.

[anniegetyourgun]

And since libs hate guns.....WE WIN!

[michaelbfree]

Everything but GH is Eastern WA and should go Rossi - I live in Benton and it's about 65-35 here and across the river in Franklin Co.- so depending on GH, he should do it.

[BJClinton]

For anyone who ever thinks their vote doesn't matter, it does.

[Wphile]

Looks like we will be doing more observing next week, eh? I'm so ready for this election to be OVER!!

[unspun]

Gregoire can use spitballs!!!

Hm... I hope she doesn't have AIDS.

[murdocj]

I've got an automatically-updating spreadsheet that keeps a running total plus projects the final tally based upon county-by-county results and outstanding ballots on my site at http://www.murdoconline.net/archives/001729.html

As of this moment KOMO News shows Gregoire up by 28 and the WA SoS (which is lagging behind the KOMO totals) shows Rossi up by 128. Oops. Now WA SoS also shows Gregoire up by 28.

This Excel sheet updates and calculates automatically. Download it at my site if you want.

[kingu]

New Mexico has the best system for this: By state law, when a race is tied the candidates play a hand of Five-Card Stud to determine the winner.

Playing Five-Card Stud without chips, or indeed, just a single hand, is a lot like betting on the outcome of solitaire. You might win, you might lose, but either way, it is boring as hell.

[CWOJackson]

Can you say thank you LP?

[counterpunch]

Christine Gregoire Democrat 1369608 48.87%
Dino Rossi Republican 1369580 48.87%
Ruth Bennett Libertarian 63253 2.25%

How many times must it be said?
The Libertarian Party is the enemy of libertarians' aspirations.

[unspun]

Shoot, I'd settle for rapiers.

[ScottFromSpokane]

Well, at least this time I should get to watch some actual counting. I did like fifteen hours down at the Elections Office, and never saw them count a single ballot.

[calreaganfan]

It's now past 5 PM. Watch the Dems now claim that the remaining ballots should not be counted.