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Democrat Certified Winner in WA Governor Race

Washington's secretary of state certified the result of the hand recount (the third count) in the governor's race, reversing the first two results -- which Republican Dino Rossi had won -- and making Democrat Christine Gregoire the election's second governor-elect, by 129 votes out of 2.9 million. The inauguration is January 12. Predictably, the two sides have switched arguments, too, with the Democrats saying Rossi should concede and the Republicans saying they have a duty to make sure the will of the people is followed. The next step may be an election contest, which could take months, and result in a court awarding the victory to a candidate, nullifying the entire election, or sending the matter to the legislature. Rossi is calling for the legislature to pass a special law calling for a new election, which would bypass a contest procedure.

5 of 220 comments (clear)

  1. zerg by Lord+Omlette · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Counter-terrorists win!

    High five!

    --
    [o]_O
  2. news for nerds? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    ...stuff that matters? ...was diebold somehow involved in the discrepency between hand and machine counts?

    1. Re:news for nerds? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Quit bitching and don't read it if you don't like it.

    2. Re:news for nerds? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Politics for Nerds. Your vote matters.

      Moron.

  3. Right wing hypocrites... by fmaxwell · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    3,500 more votes than voters in King County.

    And it happens to be an overwhelming Democrat County.

    Interesting.


    Let's think back to the Bush/Gore recounts in Florida in November of 2000...

    Did you find it "interesting" on Nov. 14, when Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, a Republican and co-chair of the Florida Bush campaign, officially certified the election for Bush while the Palm Beach County Canvassing Board was still recounting its ballots by hand?

    Did you find it "interesting" that 1,100 legal voters were disenfranchised by Katherine Harris through the criminally inaccurate purge of "felons"?

    Did you find it "interesting" that Palm Beach County, a staunchly Democratic county, with a large Jewish population, had 3,704 ballots cast for Buchanan and that voters stated that they were confused by the "butterfly ballot?"

    Did you find it "interesting" that over 10,600 votes were thrown out in Palm Beach County because voters confused by the butterfly ballot tried to correct their error by double-punching (Gore and Buchanan)?

    Did you find it "interesting" when substantial numbers of blacks were turned away from polling booths in various parts of Florida in 2,000?

    Did you find it "interesting" that ballots ran out in certain precincts?

    Did you find it "interesting" that carpools of African-American voters were stopped by police with, in some cases, officers demanding to see a "taxi license"?

    Did you find it "interesting" that polls closed with people still in line in Tampa?

    Did you find it "interesting" that in Osceola County, ballots did not line up properly, possibly causing Gore voters to have their ballots cast for Harry Browne?

    Did you find it "interesting" that Hispanic voters in Osceola County were required to produce two forms of id when only one is required?

    Did you find it "interesting" that dozens, and possibly hundreds, of voters in Broward County were unable to vote because the Supervisor of Elections did not have enough staff to verify changes of address?

    Did you find it "interesting" that many Haitian-American voters were turned away from precincts where they were voting for the first time?

    Did you find it "interesting" that the mayoral candidate whose election in Miami was overturned due to voter fraud, Xavier Suarez, said he was involved in preparing absentee ballots for George w. Bush?

    Did you find it "interesting" that in Volusia County, Florida, James Harris, a Socialist Workers Party candidate, won 9,888 votes (he got only 583 in the rest of the state)?

    Did you find it "interesting" that many African-American first-time voters who registered at motor vehicles offices or in campus voter registration drives did not appear on the voting rolls?

    Did you find it "interesting" that Jewish precincts had a suspiciously high number of double-punched ballots, and another lost its computerized votes altogether when a poll worker "accidentally" erased them?

    Did you find it "interesting" that the Florida Highway Patrol confirmed that the department did conduct what it called a "routine" check point near a black precinct in Tallahassee on election day, where police asked black men to get out of their vehicles and produce identification?

    Did you find it "interesting" that Sandy Goard, supervisor of elections of Seminole County, admitted allowing two Republican operatives to add missing voter-identification numbers to 4,700 incomplete absentee ballot requests, mostly GOP voters -- actions that were illegal -- and that those votes were counted?

    No, you probably didn't find any of that interesting. You were probably too busy screaming that Gore was trying to "steal" the election.