WA: Dems OK Statewide Recount; Seek New Count, Too
By Matt Rosenberg Posted in Elections — Comments (13) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
The still-hotly contested Washington gubernatorial race entered its next phase this afternoon, as Democrat Christine Gregoire announced she has raised enough money (including $250,000 from John Kerry's campaign kitty) for a statewide hand recount. She's trying to overcome her 42-vote deficit against Republican Dino Rossi. The AP's David Ammons reports.
After all votes were tallied, Rossi led by 261. The first recount was done mainly by machines, but also included human counting of "enhanced" ballots, and counting of initially-rejected provisionals buttressed by court-allowed affidavits from the voters in question - all this in the Democratic stronghold of Seattle-King County. The first recount left Gregoire down by 42.
Under state law, a manual, second recount is permitted. That's despite the continued physical degradation of ballots with additional handling, the greater margin for human error than with a machine recount, and expanded possibilities for fraud.
However, it may be more than a recount. It will be a new count, if State Dems have their way. They have also announced they're going into the Washington Supreme Court to see that all previously rejected ballots are counted, exempting only those which might have been rejected for overt fraud. In other words, a provisional with a signature that doesn't match the voter registration signature? Count it anyway, apparently without even bothering to gin up the flimsy affidavit scam again. Ballots without the circle filled in, but a scratch sort of near Gregoire's name? Count it, even if the machine or election board officials decided not to last time around.
Here the Dems' lawyers explain in a letter to WA Sec. of State Sam Reed why they believe a count of all "ballots cast" is right, and "why recount statutes are remedial statutes that should be liberally construed."
The WA GOP has promised to fight such manipulations energetically, and go into court themselves if necessary. The next count may not be done until Dec. 23.
Urging Gregoire to concede are The Everett Herald, and the Tri-City Herald (free reg. req.). And Seattle P-I editorial columnist Thomas Shapley doesn't think much of hand recounts or voters who can't follow basic directions.
Even if Gregoire steals this one (and she may) she loses in the end, and so does her party. They look grasping, and desperate, and are paving the way for huge backlash in future statewide contests, starting no later than U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell's 2006 re-election bid.
Also contributing $250,000 each to help pay for Gregoire's hand recount, in addition to Kerry, are the DNC, and an affiliate of MoveOn.org.
Washington State is tangible evidence of a national party - and its minions - mired in bitterness and denial. They are their own worst enemy.
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WA: Dems OK Statewide Recount; Seek New Count, Too 13 Comments (0 topical, 13 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
with Kowalski on this one. A hand recount will most likely go to Gregoire because I'm sure they'll find 43 morons in King County that had their vote pitched for some reason and then sue to have them re-instated hence giving her the victory. Then Dino will be faced with the dilemma of sue or concede. He's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.
Personally, at this point, I don't care who wins. I just want it to be done, so the state can get on with business. While I'd like to see Dino in the governor's spot, I'd accept the ousting of Maria Cantwell in '06 as his revenge.
At any rate, this debaucle and the Florida nightmare of 2000 shows that our election process is seriously flawed. Provisional ballots were supposed to be the answer, but IMO, they have made things worse. It's been said many times before on here: TIME FOR VOTER REFORM!!!!!
Lastly, if you are too stupid or unconcerned with filling out your ballot properly, YOU DON'T DESERVE THE RIGHT TO VOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!
You can be sure of it.
Question now is--what does Rossi do, once the Dems rehabilitate enough votes? Seems that he's in a bit of a spot.
If he demands his own recount, then many will accuse him of his own sour grapes.
If he accepts Gregoire's victory, then the Dems will have gotten away with it...making Machiavelli proud.
My recommendation: When Gregoire 'wins", Rossi should gamely go to the microphones and congratulate Gov-'elect' Gregoire. In his concession, he should say that he decided not to prolong matters because Washington had been through enough pain.
And then, he should take two weeks of vacation, come back and have a second news conference--to unveil "Rossi for Senate 2006:
when your talking about so few votes, under this voting system.
You know, I was thinking (randomly as usual) that these automated voting machines, like the new ones we got here lately in FL., would serve better if they were to print out a receipt of the voting event for the voter. That (reciept) in turn could be run through a "vote checker" (like a spell checker) device that can "check" the status of your ballet for discrepancies, like "scratch choices" etc...
No ballet under suspicion would be allowed to be finalized. "Helpers" at the balloting stations could help resolve the (normally innocent) problems without event.
These recounts would be all but worthless considering the abilities of the (1) receipt recount (2) double checked ballots status(3) 3 copies of the voting event. It would be essentially, unchallengable.
Ahh, but surely someone would find a way.
Rossi for Governor 2004: 1,372,484 votes
Cantwell for Senate 2000: 1,199,260 votes
That looks not bad.
if you are are a citizen, you deserve the right to vote. elitist pig.
citizens do have a right to vote. However, they have a responsibility to do it correctly. If they do not do it correctly, the vote doesn't count. End of discussion.
From the tone of your comment though, you really aren't interested in personal responsibility, only name calling. Maybe you should go back and read the posting rules.
At least here in king county, this is done: optical scan ballots were run through a test scanner at a polling place near my house to check for possible mistakes. Of course, half us us vote by absentee, for which we can't do this, but for those who do come to the polls, it is checked.
The bigger problem is the poll workers who tell people the wrong thing in the first place: such as that they couldn't drop off their absentee ballot at that polling place because it wasn't their precinct. Which isn't the case under Washington state law. So those voters were forced to fill out provisional ballots which are getting extra scrutiny and higher rejection rates.
Until we get poll workers who understand the regulations, we'll have voting problems.
The rudeness of the post up-thread is unexcusable. However, there is a legitimate point here: King County was actually doing their homework better than other counties when it comes to checking up on absentee and provisional ballots. So if you are going to do a recount (and it is perfectly legal to do so) every county, even the Rossi ones, should implement the same standards for verifying provisional and absentee ballots.
In 2000, the reasoning against the recount was that the Democrats were cherry picking their best districts and that standards weren't being implemented uniformly. In an election which would have required a hand recount automatically if the machines had gotten it right the first time, the Democrats are saying that we should count the entire state, and use the same standards everywhere.
And what is the problem with this again?
If the recount does show Gregoire won (which I don't think is as done a deal as you seem to) we will certainly be seeing Rossi again in 2006.
As someone rooting against Rossi, I sincerely hope Cantwell can make a more compelling argument for her election than Gregoire did -- if Cantwell doesn't, she'll be toast.
the votes by hand isn't a problem. The law allows for it so long as someone pays for it. Can't argue with that. I don't think it will be as accurate, but that is their whole point. What ever it takes to win. Manipulate, challenge etc...
What I absolutely take issue with is taking ballots that weren't signed, etc...and chasing down the people after the fact to fix them. Counting ballots that aren't properly completed, etc...Sorry, again, if you don't fill out your ballots properly, it doesn't count.
Election day should be just that, a day, not weeks or months. If you don't fill out your ballot properly, it doesn't count. End of discussion. Whether the election favors the repubs or the dems, it doesn't matter. Improperly filled out ballots don't count!
Many folks have already commented in different threads on here regarding the inaccuracy of hand recounts. I'll not continue to beat that dead horse. Bottom line, the reason that this so-called attempt to "count every vote" is happening is the dems are desperate to steal this election. Plain and simple. They don't care how they do it, they just need a win to boost their egos after such a devastating butt-kicking nation wide on November 2.
At this point, I don't care who wins. I'm much more concerned with the integrity of our election process.
Clearly the democrats are doing this because they want to win.
I haven't read the threads debating the accuracy of hand counts, so I won't comment on that.
Improperly filled out ballots don't count!
I would fight for different regulations in future elections that make it easier to vote, but clearly only ballots filled out in compliance with current state law should be counted. Changing election requirements is a fight for another day.
Again, the question is consistency. Counties across the state have had differing levels of vigilance in tracking down if voters satisfied the requirements or not. In a statewide race, those differences should be eliminated with a consistent policy.
And I don't say that lightly.
We're into some really nebulous territory if this goes into a hand recount. Everyone on Redstate should mark this moment and this post to remind themselves, because my prediction is that if the hand recount goes through, Gregoire will 'win.'
Pyrrhic victory has never meant more than it does now, in Washington State.
Just as a reference, I direct you to the following links:
First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth.
Courtney Love went to school in Olympia, where "Everyone's the Same...and they're the Revolution!"