Well the number of lawsuits filed is a tie. 1-1. Who thinks it will end with that score?

An interersting note is that if the initial machine count had arrived at the 42 vote difference a hand count would have been mandatory under our law.

This just aint passing the stink test.

The first thing that needs to be changed is when a County is finished with their count it should go under lock and key until all Counties are ready to release the results at the same time. King Co. found 573 ballots today. I'm not a math expert but I would guess that is just enough to make up the 123 votes.

Here's the story http://www.kirotv.com/politics/3999346/detail.html

Not a real great way for either candidate to start their Governorship!

This brings me to one question. Does anybody really care who the next Governor is anymore???

What did Yogi Berra say, it ant over till it's over!

Maybe after a year in courts, ah maybe?

Rossi doesn't have a chance...

Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2004 7:15 a.m. EST


Wash State Sec'y: Vote Find Is Suspicious


The discovery late Monday of 561 votes in the ongoing Washington state governor's race had both state and GOP officials crying foul yesterday, with Secretary of State Sam Reed saying that vote fraud is a possibility.


Asked if he thought the 11th-hour vote find could be fraudulent, Reed told KTTH Seattle radio host Mike Siegel, "You want to look at that, just because it's so late in the process and the impact it could have on the outcome of this race."

Washington state is currently undergoing its second ballot recount in a race in which Republican Dino Rossi won the initial election by 261 votes over Democrat Christine Gregoire. A machine recount narrowed Rossi's victory margin to 42 votes.

Since the mystery votes were discovered in heavily Democratic King County, state election officials of both parties expect their inclusion would tip the race for Gregoire.

The Washington State Supreme Court ruled yesterday that individual canvassing boards were not required to review votes that were initially discarded because of flaws. But the finding did not affect the 561-vote find.

Secretary of State Reed was critical of King County election officials, telling Siegel that the 11th-hour discovery "strains credibility. Either it is just horrible incompetence ... or something else is going on."

"[People] get very suspicious when, as Rossi pulls ahead, all of a sudden these ballots show up that could easily switch the lead," he added. "I think for the sake of voter trust and competence we're going to have to have a thorough investigation."

King County Director of Elections Dean Logan disagreed.

"I don't think there's any evidence or speculation that fraud has taken place," Logan told Siegel. "There's a clear record of what these ballots are and where they came from."

Logan insisted that the mystery votes were the product of an honest mistake, saying they had been erroneously grouped with ballots that were unsigned or had signatures that didn't match.

Washington State Republican chairman Chris Vance wasn't persuaded by Logan's arguments.

Following Logan on Siegel's broadcast, Vance said, "From where we sit, it's impossible to tell whether this is incompetence or fraud. They look the same from the outside. If you were going to steal the election, the way you do it is to, at the very end, find a bunch of votes."

Vance noted: "This is about the fifth time that votes have been found in King County and Logan always has an explanation for it. But there's just no way for us to know."

Guys, let me offer a different perspective. Let's look at Kitsap County. They have reported an additional 161 votes in the manual recount than in the first machine recount. If you take 161 and apply the percentage of that number to the total vote in Kitsap County and then apply that percentage to King County you end up with King County reporting 1204 additional votes in this recount. If you look at Franklin County, you would have King Co. reporting an additional 1382 votes. My point is - nobody is looking at these other counties (because they are Rossi counties???). I have come to the conclusion that both parties are attempting to steal this election. Because the GOP has more counties to spread the fraud across, they are doing it with more style. As long as they can keep our attention focused on King Co., they win.

Having said that, I hope that Rossi does win this count, if not, the lawsuits filed will keep a number of lawyers in business for a very long time. And we seriously need to look at election reform. I think we could count this race 100 times and never come up with the same exact result.

I agree Eddie. I don't have a problem if Rossi wins, I just want the votes counted properly. It sounds to me like many Republicans don't really know if these miscounts or additional votes are fraudulent, their just spinning the facts to drive their desired outcome.