Gregorie wins by 130 votes, INCLUDING KING COUNTY!!!

[2952-0-0]

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Democrat Christine Gregoire expanded her lead over Republican Dino Rossi to 130 votes to win the race for Washington state governor in a recount seven weeks after the election, officials said on Thursday.

King County, a Democratic stronghold that includes Seattle, finished tallying most of its previously uncounted votes on Thursday, boosting Gregoire's lead over Rossi from 10 votes to 130 votes.

"We're thrilled," said Kirstin Brost, Gregoire's spokeswoman, "This has been a long time coming and it was absolutely well worth the effort."

The results have not yet been certified. Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed is expected to do so on Dec. 30.

Gregoire, the state's attorney general, held off declaring victory but said she had gathered a transition team to prepare to take up the governor's post in Olympia, the state capitol.

"It is time for this race and this election to be over," Gregoire told reporters and supporters.

Officials from Rossi's campaign were not immediately available for comment.

Gregoire came back after falling behind Rossi in the first of two machine recounts since the Nov. 2 election. After an unprecedented hand recount paid for by the Democratic Party, Gregoire took a 10-vote lead earlier this week.

After an order by the state Supreme Court, King County tallied previously uncounted ballots.

The final result is expected to be challenged in court by the Republican Party, which argued that previously uncounted votes should not have been included in the final tally.

Rossi, a real estate agent, led the governor's race, although the second machine recount narrowed his lead over Gregoire from 261 votes to just 42 out of a total 2.8 million votes cast.

Chris Vance, chairman of Washington state's Republican Party, said earlier the party would fight to include hundreds of votes that were wrongly rejected in other counties.
An extended court battle over the election could mean the outcome will remain unresolved even after the January inauguration. Democratic Gov. Gary Locke, who decided not to run for re-election, would have to remain in office.

After the first two recounts, Democrats agreed to cover the cost of more than $700,000 for the hand recount. Under election rules, the state will reimburse the money if the recount reverses the tally.

The final tally showed Gregoire received 1,373,362 votes, while Rossi took 1,373,232. Libertarian Party candidate Ruth Bennett got 63,465 votes.



Well, barring anything happenning before the 30th, it looks like it's Governor Gregorie.

[Alcon]

Welcome to the day before yesterday.

[Ben.]

Well, barring anything happenning before the 30th, it looks like it's Governor Gregorie.

Yeah... awful isn’t it?

Then again same sorta thing's happened before with the roles reversed.

[senatortombstone]

I say that Gregorie will ultimately be the governor of WA.  However, I do think that if King County's mistakenly rejected ballots are allowed in, then every county should have to include such ballots before a winner is declared.  Itis impossible to say, without counting all legitimate-but-wrongfully-excluded ballots, who the real winner of the WA gov's race is; it could be either.  however, Gregorie, being declared winner, has momentum and her republican challenger is the one who faces an uphill battle.

[CARLHAYDEN]

But that would mean that the equal protection clause really means what it says.

Besides, no one can 'find' as many votes as Dean Logan.

If the other counties are to be allowed to follow the example of King county and count previously disallowed ballots, then Dean Logan would simply 'find' more votes for Gregoire.

[bgwah]

Eastern Washington should just join Idaho.

[12th Doctor]

This is what would have happened in FL 2000 if the Supreme Court hadn't steped in.  In a heavily pro-Democrat state they counted only heavily Democratic counties and "found" many votes that had been thrown out as illegit by those who were following the law.  Never before have voters on provisional ballots been "tracked-down" to be asked if they could validate their votes or say that they did vote for a cadidate.  What a load of bullsh**t.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I love how the Republicans just assume the margin of victory votes were fraudulent and give no proof or evidence.

[minionofmidas]

Tracking down provisional voters and ask them how they voted, while not necessarily fraudulent, does indeed sound ... wrong ... to me.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

It's kind of like rounding up homeless or people from impoverished neighboorhoods in Minneapolis and Milwaukee and busing them down to vote on election day. Some people may think it's unorthodox, but it's not illegal and I totally support it.

[minionofmidas]

It's kind of like rounding up homeless or people from impoverished neighboorhoods in Minneapolis and Milwaukee and busing them down to vote on election day. Some people may think it's unorthodox, but it's not illegal and I totally support it.

That's certainly not unorthodox...that practice is as old as the general franchise.
Obviously, it only works if they are registered to vote, but they definitely deserve a vote as much as the next guy, and are usually badly informed but again no less than the next guy.

Jacob Riis noted that, among the NY poor ca.1900, Blacks were the only one with any political convictions - the price for a vote back then was two dollars. Blacks took only half that amount from Republicans.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Obviously, it only works if they are registered to vote

the reason I only said Minneapolis and Milwaukee is because both Minnesota and Wisconsin have same day registration. The Democratic machines up here do that then since it works for pretty much anyone they can find in the right places.

Similar things happened on my campus too.

[bgwah]

Will the Republicans stage any large scale protests to the outcome of this election? Perhaps we could have some riots!

Perhaps some crazy people will try to assasinate Gregoire or Rossi?

[elcorazon]

This is what would have happened in FL 2000 if the Supreme Court hadn't steped in.  In a heavily pro-Democrat state they counted only heavily Democratic counties and "found" many votes that had been thrown out as illegit by those who were following the law.  Never before have voters on provisional ballots been "tracked-down" to be asked if they could validate their votes or say that they did vote for a cadidate.  What a load of bullsh**t.

yeah.  God forbid the guy with the most votes gets to actually win the election.  That's a travesty.

[stry_cat]

yeah.  God forbid the guy with the most votes gets to actually win the election.  That's a travesty.

If they're going to allow questionable ballots from Democratic strongholds like King County then they should also allow questionalable ballots from Republican leaning counties.  They're using the same tactic they used in 2000 in FL, only this time it doesn't look like they're going to be stopped.

The Dems have once again tainted the election process.    That's the real travesty.

[elcorazon]

I haven't heard about questionable ballots being denied anywhere in Washington.  Maybe I missed that story.  Do you have a link?

[bgwah]

Didn't Gregoire win by 10 votes without them anyway?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

can anyone prove the votes that gave Gregories her margin of victory are fraudulent?

[bgwah]

can anyone prove the votes that gave Gregories her margin of victory are fraudulent?

Since when did Republicans need proof of anything?

[KentonNgo]

An election was never stolen by counting votes.

[A18]

An election was never stolen by counting votes.

An election was never stolen by counting valid votes. Tons of elections have been stolen by counting votes.

[CARLHAYDEN]

An election was never stolen by counting votes.

Read the following:

http://www.eiu.edu/~historia/1999/texas99.htm

[12th Doctor]

can anyone prove the votes that gave Gregories her margin of victory are fraudulent?

I never said they were.  I said that they only counted questionable ballots in Democrat counties where the recount was taking place.  If it had been a statewide effort, then I would have no problem with it.

[Alcon]

can anyone prove the votes that gave Gregories her margin of victory are fraudulent?

I never said they were.  I said that they only counted questionable ballots in Democrat counties where the recount was taking place.  If it had been a statewide effort, then I would have no problem with it.

Actually, that's untrue. Five other counties also counted new ballots, four of which were Republican counties, I believe.

[A18]

I think he's talking about Florida in 2000.