Double Flash (Wednesday 2pm). Kitsap came in exactly as expected. net gain of 34 for Gregoire, confirming Rossi's 42 vote victory. It's all over. Rossi won. It's time for Gregoire to concede.
--
King County reported its results at 12:30.
Gregoire picks up a net 245 votes.
Rossi's margin (including today's official Whitman reports and last night's unofficial Kitsap) is now +42.
A narrow margin, but he's still the winner.
UPDATE: The Seattle Times concurs and calls it for Rossi by 42.
Neither major candidate or party seems to have made an announcement yet, but the Ds made enough noises up until yesterday about having yet another recount should Rossi win this one. Sorry, but another recount won't fly.
Gregoire needs to do the honorable thing and concede.
UPDATE 2 (1:30pm).
I just called Gregoire's Seattle campaign office and asked when she would be giving her concessioin speech. The staffer said "I can't comment on that" and hung up. "No comment" is not the same thing as "no concession". One can hope this is a signal that a sense of reality is setting in.
FYI -- Gregoire's campaign office can be reached here. If you have a moment, call them up, congratulate Christine Gregoire on a well-fought race and encourage Gregoire to recognize that the voters have spoken and concede defeat for the good of the state.
UPDATE 3 (2:25pm) The Rossi campaign will be holding a press conference at HQ momentarily. Dino is apparently on vacation, but other Republican honchos, including J. Vander Stoep, Dan Evans and Ralph Munro will be on hand.
UPDATE 4 (5pm) Rossi has declared victory. Gregoire, on the other hand, is pissing and whining like a sore loser:
At a press conference late Wednesday afternoon, however, Gregoire said she would ask for a hand recount in at least some precincts or counties in Washington.We already have confidence that Rossi was elected. If Gregoire thinks that many residents of the state would seriously believe that a third count would somehow be less prone to errors and fraud than the preceding two counts, then she's smoking crack. The readers of this (unscientific) online poll at KING5 agree overwhelmingly. Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at November 24, 2004 12:25 PM | Email This"In Washington State, we want to have confidence that the person who is sworn in in January is the person who was elected," Gregoire said.
I think we're gonna have a recount, so let's ask the counties to have webcams so WE THE PEOPLE can be the scrutineers! Why not?!?
Posted by: Josef on November 24, 2004 12:38 PMNow what you think about my webcam idea?
That said, here goes:
DI-NO! DI-NO! DI-NO! DI-NO! DI-NO!
DI-NO! DI-NO! DI-NO! DI-NO! DI-NO!
DI-NO! DI-NO! DI-NO! DI-NO! DI-NO!
DI-NO! DI-NO! DI-NO! DI-NO! DI-NO!
DI-NO! DI-NO! DI-NO! DI-NO! DI-NO!
DI-NO! DI-NO! DI-NO! DI-NO! DI-NO!
DI-NO! DI-NO! DI-NO! DI-NO! DI-NO!
DI-NO! DI-NO! DI-NO! DI-NO! DI-NO!
DI-NO! DI-NO!
(A unique perspective...)
They don't yet have Kitsap, which fell Rossi.
Posted by: bmvaughn on November 24, 2004 12:50 PMSays the same thing, but under 'View Results by County', you'll see Kitsap as 'NA' and see what the _old_ count was... which is expected to be essentially correct.
Posted by: Al on November 24, 2004 12:52 PMThe Democrats simply MUST throw in the towel now. Face it: Rossi won and their cadidate lost. Do they expect they can keep asking for recounts until they get the kind of results they like best? That's not the way elections are supposed to work. We'll have to wait and see what happens...
Posted by: Seth Cooper on November 24, 2004 12:54 PMIt would be noble and good and wise and wonderful for Gregoire to put the kybosh on a recount. But with the margin in double digits, I can hardly blame her if she doesn't. Margins of 42 votes are what the recount law was written for.
I don't think, though, that it will do her any good, if it's done honestly. Where else does she think she's going to pick up votes? King County essentially did a hand recount, what's going to be any different about it if they do it again? The mainly Rossi counties that just put stuff through the machines again, they may well add votes. But I don't see how King County adds any more than they already have.
Posted by: Timothy on November 24, 2004 12:54 PMI knew there was a reason I liked you, Timothy. ;)
Posted by: Nathan Azinger on November 24, 2004 12:59 PMGoing to see if AnnCoulter has anything to say, or that guy who lost in Illinois.
Posted by: jack frost on November 24, 2004 12:59 PMBut want to see something creepy? Total vote change in King County was 971 votes. Subtract from that the 710 undervote ballots and you have... 261.
Posted by: Timothy on November 24, 2004 01:00 PMChristine Gregoire
Democrat 1316278 48.9069% +1274
Dino Rossi
Republican 1314791 48.8517% +1089
Ruth Bennett
Libertarian 60326 2.2414% +77
View Results by County 3 Candidate(s)
Results last updated on: 11/24/2004 12:34:00 PM
http://vote.wa.gov/general/recount.aspx
Posted by: Frank Myers on November 24, 2004 01:07 PM"OLYMPIA, Wash. - Republican Dino Rossi came out ahead of Democrat Christine Gregoire by just 42 votes Wednesday in the recount for Washington governor, and the Democrats are expected to demand yet another recount. "
I like that last part..."YET another recount." Even yahoo subtly wonders why.
Posted by: Chris on November 24, 2004 01:14 PMHopefully the Dems will spare us the drama of a hand recount. Two counts show Rossi winning, you shouldn't be able to keep counting until you get the result you are looking for.
Posted by: Jason on November 24, 2004 01:19 PMEither that, or the Vogons will blow up the planet before the Secretary of State certifies the recount.
Posted by: Vexorg on November 24, 2004 01:24 PMYou've just been to Iraq. Can you give some unique perspective to this gubernatorial election and your thoughts? Thanks.
Of course, I just updated my blog with exclusive intelligence with Edition 6.2!
Posted by: Josef on November 24, 2004 01:29 PMStefan is exactly right. Concession would be the honorable thing to do now.
Posted by: Seth Cooper on November 24, 2004 01:33 PMSo you say "some stolen election." It's not over until Gregoire concedes. The recount process, as much as you naively call it fair and without any fraud was extremely flawed.
By divining the intent of votes during a recount, something that at best should be reserved for the initial count only (as specified by state law) and at worst is manipulation by counting ballots that were improperly cast and should have just been discarded, the election is now left with a 42 vote margin.
See my other posts for why "every vote counts" is wrong. In summary, any voter that wanted his or her vote counted had more than enough opportunity to follow the simple instructions for voting and get their ballot to the correct place. All of the provisional ballots with missing signatures, and other ballots that were improperly filled out should have been discarded. The "intent" of real voters that took the time to vote properly is distorted by the vote welfare in King County.
So, this leaves the election with a small enough margin that the Democrats will probably go for a hand recount dragging the whole process out further.
All of this could have been avoided if we did not have the obvious manipulation that is going on in King County and that is well documented.
It ain't over yet.
Isn't what King just did pretty close to a hand recount? If that's the case, do the Dims have a lot left to gain by hand recounting the whole state?
Posted by: Steve Rowe on November 24, 2004 01:52 PMmnw
Posted by: mnw on November 24, 2004 01:55 PMThe announcers then complain to high heaven that the WR didn't run the yardage necessary to get the results needed.
That's what I think about when the Dems have a recount, extra votes are "found", and the Republican still wins.
Let's hope the Refs don't give them another chance to make the needed yardage...
They (D's) figure their best chance of wringing out another 45-50 votes is in King Co., so that will be focus of the fight to come unless Gregoire does the right thing and calls it off.
Posted by: Kevin S on November 24, 2004 02:04 PM...and our state's long history of counting votes over the lunacy too many on this page have advocated. There is a difference between where we are, and were Berendt would want to go- but ya'll have sure given him the ammo for challenging the election. Take aim and shoot in foot- but PLEASE, take your foot out of your mouth, first!
And concessions mean nothing, legally. Gregoire could concede, and Berendt could still demand a recount...
Posted by: Jim King on November 24, 2004 02:09 PMI am not talking about the 710 or so existing ballots that were "enhanced" to register a vote where no vote existed before.
I am talking about 336 new ballots that were not counted at all in the previous count (as opposed to votes for Governor).
King County counted 898,238 ballots in the original count. In the recount, 898,574 ballots were counted.
Where did these 336 additional ballots come from?
Something is very suspicious here.
If King County has a hand count, will they add another couple of hundred ballots to the pile? I bet with a hand count, that they can make it at least 899,000 ballots to count.
I SMELL FRAUD HERE!!!!
Posted by: Richard Pope on November 24, 2004 02:21 PMI've seen this line about the 710 votes too often from fellow Republicans and I don't like it. State law says that any questionable ballots the canvassing board has not previously ruled on can be brought before the canvassing board for a decision. The canvassing board is within its rights to enhance or even duplicate a ballot that the machine won't read in order to make the intended vote register.
Posted by: Nathan Azinger on November 24, 2004 02:22 PMI suspect the victory declaration is soon to come, as is the demand for a hand recount by the D's...
Posted by: Kevin S on November 24, 2004 02:45 PMAt some point personal ambitions have to be put aside.
Posted by: South County on November 24, 2004 02:46 PMAt some point personal ambitions have to be put aside.
Posted by: South County on November 24, 2004 02:46 PMBut if I had lost on either side I would get the hand count going. My family moved here and on the farm where we used to live, it was all paper ballots. My mom and grandmother were always counters, I watched for hous as a teenager, and those ballots were always a mess.
The point is they carefully hand counted each and I think it was totally accurate. As accurate as God would allow humans to be.
You want accuracy, a real vote not bad machines, pay for the hand count. Jody, best for
Thanksgiving.
I have no use for trolls.
You are permanently banned. Good riddance!
Posted by: Stefan Sharkansky on November 24, 2004 02:59 PMRegarding what to do next: There is a time for silence and a time to speak. NOW IS THE TIME FOR ALL GOOD REPUBLICANS AND DINOCRATS TO BE SILENT!!! ALLOW THESE LOSERS TO FROTH AND FOAM AT THE MOUTH!! ABOVE ALL DON'T GIVE THEM THE ANSWER ON WHAT TO DO NEXT. I'M A CPA AND LOVE NUMBERS/STATISTICS AND STRATEGIZING. THERE IS ONLY ONE ANSWER HERE. AND THE PARTY THAT IS DUMB ENOUGH TO BLOW THIS ELECTION IS CERTAINLY DUMB ENOUGH TO SCREW UP WHAT TO DO NEXT!!! SILENCE MY FRIENDS!!
1053 total new votes (primarily ballots that were "enhanced" during the recount)
336 new ballots
Gregoire: +593 (56%)
Rossi: +348 (33%)
Bennett: +30 (3%)
Write-ins: +82 (8%)
According to the press release, Dean Logan (Director of King County Records, Elections and Licensing Services) said, "Proportionately the results in King County are consistent with the results of the original count." However, the original count returned the following percentages:
Gregoire: 57.75%
Rossi: 40.09%
Bennett: 2.16%
Write-ins: 0.14%
Quoting directly from the Secreatary of State's website FAQ on recounts.
"Q: What is a recount?
A recount is the process where the counties simply re-tabulate all the ballots that were counted in the original count.
In the original count, final determinations are made by the county canvassing boards on what votes will be counted.
The recount does not allow a review of decisions by the county canvassing boards of what constitutes a vote.
Thus, the same ballots counted in the original count will simply be re-tabulated."
So these I spelled out above are actually Sam Reeds rules. The bottom line is that it is wrong for King County to be making decisions on what constitues a vote. All ballots that are not marked in the proper way so as to be counted by machine, and are not simply damaged ballots that can be copied to a new ballot should be thrown out. That includes the Republican ones. If this procedure were followed (State Law) then we would not have wasted millions on this process thus far and Rossi would have already won.
All voters of all political persuasions will have an opportunity to really learn and get an appreciation for what we usually take for granted.
I believe representatives of both parties have to be present at all vote count centers? It will be a bummer Christmas for them but it's a worthy sacrifice. The integrity of the vote is fundamental to democracy.
I'll be really disappointed if the democrats cave on this one. My twenty-five dollars stand ready if the right decision is made.
Posted by: John on November 24, 2004 03:34 PM
Besides the Republicans would be within their legal rights to ask for a hand recount.
If it's there for the asking you'd be a fool not to ask.
Posted by: John on November 24, 2004 04:00 PMNow, lets go ahead and take a look at lil Miss "I will not admit defeat no matter how much I have to cheat"...I'm just not seeing the grace.
Posted by: Jul on November 24, 2004 04:05 PMSome reporter out there should ask Rossi if he would concede. He's probably say yes but then ask if Vance agrees with that and so on down the line..
Yeah, right..
Posted by: John on November 24, 2004 04:15 PMUh, John...were you just bitching about not putting words in people's mouths?
Get thee hence, troll.
Posted by: South County on November 24, 2004 04:20 PMDoesn't the law say he would be within his rights to ask for a hand recount if the tables were turned? You folks are all for the rule of law, aren't you?
You have to stop seeing the glass as half empty. It's an opportunity for all sides to know the truth about the integrity of the vote.
And Jul, words are all we got on this comment board. Link to the quote or the article, i.e. put up or.. you know the rest.
Posted by: John on November 24, 2004 04:45 PMFair enough, guys. You're on the record.
I must admit I don't know much about the current law here in WA. Did some of it come about due to the experience in Florida? Gore wanted a selective recount, the other side cried foul, etc. Was the current law designed to address that?
If this is true and Gregoire caves then I can only conclude that the system is still broken. I have to conclude that all sides have something to hide and we miss an opportunity to strengthen our democracy. We simply don't want to face the truth about ourselves.
There's probably going to be a recount in Ohio if the folks in charge over there don't delay it out of existence (no pun intended). And there should be a recount - there's too many unanswered questions. We'll see what happens.
Posted by: John on November 24, 2004 06:00 PMHowever, in Democrat-controlled King County (where in one building alone the lawyer population outnumbers the whole lawyer population of Japan), ballots keep popping out of the woodwork, and lawyers to interpret them ad nauseum, and mainstream media to act as their megaphone. No wonder she wants to press on with the soap opera, she could be Queen for a Day with just a little more advocacy and a bend or two in the rules.
Posted by: Insufficiently Sensitive on November 24, 2004 09:08 PMA third defeated candidate, Republican Rep. Ken Mercer of San Antonio, will decide by today whether to join the others in contesting his 498-vote loss to Democratic challenger David Leibowitz, his campaign manager said.