Reichert hangs on as Burner prepares for recount

With the Eastside Congressional race still too close to call, Democratic challenger Darcy Burner is preparing for a recount if — and it is still a big if — the vote counts warrant it.

In a small batch of votes counted Thursday, U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert continued to hold a skinny lead.

Reichert, R-Auburn, is beating Burner by 13 percent in his district's more conservative southern end and remained less than 1 percentage point behind Burner in the more liberal north end of the 8th Congressional District, which spans eastern King and Pierce counties.

Overall, Reichert held a less than 2 percentage-point lead in 171,000 votes counted so far. If Secretary of State Sam Reed's prediction of a 67 percent voter turnout holds, that means more than 60 percent of ballots have been counted.

If Reichert and Burner finish within a half-percentage point and 2,000 votes of each other, state law requires a mandatory recount. But any candidate can pay for a recount or file legal action to force elections officials to take a second look at discarded ballots.

For Burner, getting to a mandatory recount would require the political version of a fourth-quarter comeback.

But she is preparing for that possibility by investigating a fundraising drive to pay for staff and legal expenses. An upper-end recount budget of $100,000 or more would be necessary only for the type of full-scale voting challenge seen in the controversial 2004 governor's race, according to her campaign.

Zach Silk, Burner's campaign manager, called the recount preparations a "necessary precaution." He said there were reports of an unusually large number of provisional ballots — those cast when there is a question about a voter's eligibility — and feared that some Democratic votes may not be counted.

"In no way do we want to drag this out," he said. "If the numbers bear it out, we may make that decision."

Mike Britt, Reichert's campaign manager, said he had talked with GOP lawyers about the possibility of a recount, but the campaign had not begun fundraising.

"Everyone is looking at all the options, but we're confident in the vote counts coming in," he said.

Former state Democratic Party Chairman Paul Berendt, who oversaw the 2004 recount that awarded Christine Gregoire the governor's office, urged Burner's campaign to be cautious before considering legal action.

"They should take a very deep breath, look at the facts and make a decision based on an analysis to do it, and not run into it haphazardly," he said.

"If she loses, she shouldn't be raising money for a recount, she should be raising money to run again in 2008."

Jonathan Martin: 206-464-2605 or jmartin@seattletimes.com