All eyes on state recount All eyes on state recount (Washinton State Governor race)

Seattle Times ^ | November 23, 2004 | Ralph Thomas

[c-five]

Republican Dino Rossi yesterday inched further ahead of Democratic Attorney General Christine Gregoire after 24 of the state's 39 counties finished recounting ballots in Washington's closest-ever race for governor.

The statewide recount continues today and is expected to wrap up tomorrow. But both sides have hinted they might ask for another recount, possibly a hand count that could take up to two weeks to complete.

The recount is likely to hinge on the outcome of 710 so-called enhanced ballots in Democratic-leaning King County, where election workers are trying to determine the intent of voters who mismarked their ballots.

Meanwhile, the state Republican Party yesterday was dealt a setback in its effort to halt the recount in King County. The party has accused county election workers of showing a pro-Gregoire bias in their handling of contested ballots.

U.S. District Judge Ricardo Martinez yesterday told the Republicans they would have to wait until after the recount is complete for a hearing on their case.

In another development, Snohomish County officials said they had discovered 242 uncounted absentee ballots that had been accidentally overlooked.

Rossi, a former state senator from Sammamish, is trying to become the first Republican elected governor since 1980.

He was leading by 261 votes last week after all 39 counties finished tallying more than 2.8 million ballots.

Rossi's minuscule lead — less than 0.0093 percent — triggered an automatic machine recount, which started Saturday.

As of last night, after 24 counties had reported their recounts, Rossi's lead had grown by 25 votes.

But the ballots recounted so far represent only about one-quarter of the total ballots cast. Some of the state's biggest counties, including Pierce and Snohomish, are not expected to report their recounts until today.

And King County officials said they don't expect to report their recount until tomorrow.

King County has been the center of attention for weeks. Rossi is beating Gregoire in 31 of 39 counties. But that fact is largely offset by Gregoire's 60-40 percent advantage in King County.

The state Republican Party on Saturday sued King County over how it was handling ballots that had been rejected by the counting machines. The Republicans argued those ballots should be excluded from the recount because they have to be checked by hand and inspectors have to surmise the intent of the voter, a process they say isn't being followed in 14 counties that use punch-card ballots.

"Applying counting standards in selected counties different from those in others violates the equal-protection and due-process protections of the U.S. and Washington constitutions and ultimately will deny Washington voters of their fundamental right to vote," the lawsuit stated.

Republicans singled out King County in the lawsuit. But the party hoped the judge would rule hand counting in all counties with optical-scan machines unconstitutional, state GOP Party Chairman Chris Vance said.

The state election director, Nick Handy, said yesterday he hasn't seen anything wrong with how King County or other counties are handling ballots.

"We are very comfortable with the duplication and enhancement process," Handy said. "We're comfortable that the counties are doing this consistently."

If the voter's intent is clear — say, an oval was circled instead of filled in or punched out — the election worker fixes the ballot and sends it back through the machine. If it isn't clear, a canvassing board takes an even closer look to make a final determination about the vote.

U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman on Sunday denied the Republicans' request for a temporary restraining order to halt the recount, saying that no "irreparable harm" would come if King County continued counting.

Yesterday, the Republicans took another shot, filing additional arguments in U.S. District Court and unsuccessfully asking Judge Martinez for a preliminary injunction that would stop the recount.

King County election spokeswoman Bobbie Egan said last night the county had more than 700 enhanced ballots that would be added during the recount.

Those ballots are key to the outcome because Gregoire is winning about 60 percent of the vote in King County.

To the Democrats, not counting those ballots is tantamount to saying some votes shouldn't count.

At a Democratic rally in front of the South Seattle building where ballots are being counted, a group of about 20 people held handmade signs saying "Count Every Vote" and "I believe in Chris."

Meanwhile, the recount continued.

"We remain above the political pingponging of the parties," Egan said. "I would think the voters expect that of us."

When asked what King County should be doing with ballots that cannot be machine-read, Diane Tebelius, a Republican Party lawyer, said they should be referred to the canvassing board.

King County Prosecutor Janine Joly, who is arguing the case on the county's behalf, however, said the county is simply following rules laid out by the secretary of state and the Washington Administrative Code.

Judge Martinez scheduled a hearing for Nov. 30, two days before the recount results are scheduled to be certified by the state.

County election officials said the ballots in question are being tracked and could be subtracted if the judge rules in Republicans' favor.

In all yesterday, Rossi gained 85 votes, compared with 60 for Gregoire.

Most of the counties that completed recounts yesterday reported only minor changes in the vote totals for both candidates.

Snohomish County Auditor Bob Terwilliger said the extra ballots found yesterday were overlooked after an election employee apparently stacked an empty tray on top of the tray containing the votes.

The county's canvassing board will meet tomorrow at 1 p.m. to decide what to do.

Rossi's biggest bumps came in Adams and Kittitas counties, where both candidates picked up more votes but Rossi gained a net 22 votes on Gregoire.

Adams County Auditor Nancy Broom said election officials are trying to figure out why so many votes were missed on the first count.

"I will admit we're a little concerned about that," she said. But she feels confident in the latest count.

"We have all kinds of observers here," she said.

Material from Times reporters Susan Gilmore and Maureen O'Hagan and The Associated Press was used in this report.

Ralph Thomas: 360-943-9882 or rthomas@seattletimes.com

[Publius]

Gov's Race Recount: With 27 of 39 counties reporting, Rossi has gained 21 votes. Rossi's lead is now at 282 votes.

[PhotoFixer3]

where election workers are trying to determine the intent of voters who mismarked their ballots.

Oh boy the election is left in the hands of retards that don't know how to vote again...

[Red Badger]

Back to divining ballots by pigeon innards....

[Trepz]

...where election workers are trying to determine the intent of voters who mismarked their ballots.

It's time the American people put a stop to this insanity. There are rules regarding how a ballot is to be marked/puched/etc. If the voter fails to follow those established rules, we do not need to bring in psychic readers to determine what the voter intended. Those ballots are not valid. That is the law.

[26lemoncharlie]

The Dummos will want to recount until they Win

[murdocj]

The excitement builds. Watch the numbers live with this spreadsheet:

http://www.murdoconline.net/archives/001745.html

It currently shows Rossi +21 over the original count. Updates every 10 minutes from the WA SoS site.

[alessandrofiaschi]

Taken from: http://www.soundpolitics.com/

November 23, 2004

Recount Follies

* I am continuing yesterday's table with blow-by-blow coverage of the recount reports. Scroll down, or visit this page

* King County vote counters have surgically enhanced 710 previously rejected ballots after county officials divined the voter's intent. [Are they using divining rods or do they have a haruspex on the canvassing board? -- Ed.]

Meanwhile [from the above linked article] Losertarian gubernatorial candidate Ruth Bennett (2nd from right) watches closely to make sure that all of her ballots are counted and that she's not robbed of victory.

* Snohomish County has discovered 224 brand new magical mystery ballots that weren't counted the first time. Snohomish has a Democrat administration but also voted for Rossi (in the first count) with a 2% margin. A random sample of of 224 Snohomish ballots would add 4-5 votes to Rossi's lead. On the other hand, most of these ballots were from precincts that favored Gregoire. Unfortunately, nobody seems to know whether these were valid ballots or "provisional ballots that needed checking".

* Tim Goddard has an interesting and well-researched analysis of the recount numbers, that takes into account the voting technology used in each county. Among other things, it helps explain why Adams, Kittitas and Walla Walla counties all had larger changes in the recount than other counties -- all three use the same sucky technology. Now if only Tim's analysis, as good as it is, could also be enhanced to predict all of the human folly and error, like the 224 magical mystery ballots in Snohomish and the 710 surgically enhanced haruspex ballots in King.

P.S. A big thanks to the well-written and widely read PoliPundit blog, which has linked to us often in the last couple of weeks. If you found us from a PoliPundit link, welcome! If you're not already a PoliPundit reader, be sure to check it out!

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky
Categories: 2004 Governor's Race

Dear fellow Republicans, we must avoid a big fraud, expecially in King County (Seattle)! Alessandro

[alessandrofiaschi]

Thanks, but what is the method of your brother? Have you any inner news?

[Red Badger]

avoid a big fraud?

you mean a little fraud is okay?......

[murdocj]

No inner news or special info.

This is numbers straight off the Washington Secretary of State website and then calculated using simple mathematical formulas to track totals and changes from the first count.

Simply a real-time way of watching the numbers as they post.

[kesg]

King County election spokeswoman Bobbie Egan said last night the county had more than 710 enhanced ballots that would be added during the recount.

Hmm...if the spread in King County is 20 points and the provisional votes are roughly equivalent to the overall vote in King County, Gregoire gains roughly a net 142 votes -- not enough to change the outcome. To net 282 votes from King County, she would have to win almost 70% of this vote -- or 496 votes, to be exact.

[alessandrofiaschi]

A litle change in numbers (because of new "manufacturd" votes) would caause a diametrically opposite result. And the Rats know this!

[alessandrofiaschi]

Ok, thanks a lot!

[alessandrofiaschi]

My dear friend, they are still waiting for adding the exact number to manufacture a Gregoire win. I hate them all!

[Publius]

Gov's Race Recount: With 28 of 39 counties reporting, Rossi has gained 18 votes. Rossi's lead is now at 279 votes.

[kesg]

My dear friend, they are still waiting for adding the exact number to manufacture a Gregoire win. I hate them all!

Unfortunately, you are probably right.

[zbigreddogz]

Hey, I'm at Rossi headquarters as we speak. There is some hanky-panky going on, but we are on top of it. We have picked up some more votes in other counties. We are pretty sure that all is well. We will win this recount. The only thing we are worried about is if they go to a hand recount, that will open the door to all kinds of hanky panky.

[zbigreddogz]

Well, in fairness to King County, they are roughly 1/3rd of the states population, and so it will take them longest to count.

We are worried about it, but we are on top of it.

[KellyAdmirer]

I'm not real concerned about the hanky panky you guys know about, but rather the hanky panky you don't know about. And I'm betting there is some of that going on.