Rossi back in the lead, barely

By REBECCA COOK
The Associated Press

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most read articles Most e-mailed articles

Other links Washington state election results

With the candidates so close, out of 2.8 million ballots cast, the winner will come down to the final day of counting. A statewide recount is looking more likely by the minute. Other than Rossi's miniscule lead, it was a good day for Gregoire.

Today's drama began when Grays Harbor County officials started recounting all 28,000 of their ballots after discovering a glitch that mistakenly inflated Rossi's total. The recount was expected to give 500 more votes to Gregoire.

Then this afternoon, Superior Court Judge Dean Lum ruled that King County should count provisional ballots that the Republican Party had challenged. The provisional ballots heavily favor Gregoire.

"We should make sure the ballots of all legitimate voters have been counted," said current Gov. Gary Locke, a Democrat who is retiring after two terms. He marveled at the election's closeness.

"I have never seen anything like this before," Locke said. "This really shows you how important it is that people vote."

Statewide, as of this evening, Rossi had 1,367,365 votes to Gregoire's 1,367,346. Libertarian Ruth Bennett had 63,062 votes. About 6,000 votes remain to be counted on Wednesday. The largest chunks will come from King, Grays Harbor, Benton and Stevens counties.

If any pundit can successfully predict the outcome, "I want to get on a plane with them and fly to Vegas," said Gregoire campaign spokesman Morton Brilliant. "I will stake them."

Wednesday at 5 p.m. is the deadline for counties to certify their results to the secretary of state. If the margin of victory is less than 2,000 votes, state law requires an automatic recount. If the margin drops below 150 votes, there will be a hand recount. Of the six statewide recounts since 1968, none changed the outcome of an election.

Rossi and Gregoire have traded the lead back and forth since election night. Going into the race, the 57-year-old Gregoire was heavily favored to win. Rossi, a 45-year-old commercial real estate agent, hoped to become Washington's first Republican governor in 20 years.

Gregoire has served as state attorney general for the last 12 years and ran on her record of public service, while also promising change in the governor's office. Rossi, a two-term state senator who started the campaign with little name recognition outside his district, touted his business experience and told voters he would be the real candidate for change.
 
In Grays Harbor County, Rossi had been leading by 231 votes. After the recount, Auditor Vern Spatz estimated that Gregoire would lead by 277 votes.

"We are recounting 100 percent of all ballots," Spatz said. "It's very important to us that the election be an open process and everybody is comfortable with those numbers."

Spatz said unusually high turnout aroused suspicion that something might be wrong. As of Monday, Grays Harbor County was reporting 93 percent turnout, much higher than anywhere else in the state. Officials checked the system and found the problem was with the ballot reporting, not the actual counting.

After ballots were counted, the results were saved on computer disks and downloaded into another computer to keep a running tally. Some of the disks were apparently downloaded twice by mistake, Spatz said.

He said Grays Harbor should be able to recount all its ballots by Wednesday morning.

Meanwhile, a court battle unfolded in King County over fewer than 1,000 provisional ballots.

The state GOP went to court to try to stop the count of some provisional ballots. Democrats on Monday had turned in affidavits from 400 voters whose provisional ballot signatures did not match the signatures on file with their voter registrations. In the affidavits, the 400 affirmed they were legally registered voters who only voted once.

State GOP Chairman Chris Vance said King County should not count those 400 provisional ballots until the voters come in person to the King County elections office to confirm their identities.

"Obviously the potential for fraud is great if we are going to rely on affidavits collected by partisan campaign workers," Vance said.

Democrats criticized the Republican lawsuit and rejoiced at the ruling.

"This was a good ruling to make sure that every vote counted and to make sure the election takes place with transparency," said state Democratic Party Chairman Paul Berendt. He said he believes Gregoire will win, "but it is going to come down to the very end."

The judge, for his part, seemed weary of both parties' legal wrangling.

"We have arrived at the moment which all reasonable Washingtonians have dreaded for four years: the moment when the Court is asked to micromanage an election," Lum wrote.