GOP May Challenge Wash. Governor Recount

[leftchick]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20041224/ap_on_re_us/governor_recount

SEATTLE - In what may be their last hope of reclaiming an evaporated lead in the Washington governor's race before turning to the courts, Republicans have asked county auditors statewide to reconsider ballots that were rejected on Election Day.


With the counting and re-counting finally exhausted Thursday, Democrat Christine Gregoire emerged as the victor by a mere 130 votes. The final tally: 1,373,171 votes for Gregoire; 1,373,041 for Republican Dino Rossi.


But Republicans have vowed to leave no stone unturned in the breathtakingly close race that has dragged on for nearly two months.


"I know many Washingtonians are hoping this will end soon, but I'm also sure that people across this state want a clean election and a legitimate governor-elect," Rossi said after the final tally from a grueling hand count was announced Thursday. "At this point, we have neither."

[Mike Niendorff]

1. So, a Republican finally wants to talk about "legitimacy"

Bring it on.


MDN

[cascadiance]

12. Yah, Repukes, keep it going...

Keep up the "hypocRossi"!!!

[buddysmellgood]

20. Lol

[Patsy Stone]

2. That is great news

How, then, can they challenge the rejected ballots in Ohio and everywhere else? Please, please, please let them challenge...
Hell, let's hope they ask for the whole thing to be done over.

Do I hear James Baker III warming up in the wings? Let's get Boise out there to insist that the ballots were counted and counted and counted again and that they should just stop counting and get over it already!

[LisaL]

10. No, it has nothing to do with OH.

:eyes:

[Patsy Stone]

13. No it is not in OH

But, last I checked, there were many uncounted, challenged ballots (absentee and provisional as well as "spoiled") still waiting in OH. In fact, one of the 11 points in the still ignored K/E request was that they be looked at -- and there was also a pending suit by the Glibs to look at them.

"Republicans have asked county auditors statewide to reconsider ballots that were rejected on Election Day."

So, if they insist that this happens in Washington, and continue to insist that it doesn't happen in OH, isn't that hypocritical?
Doesn't that give us something to shout about?

It's just another example of the Repugs choosing when they would like to count the votes.

[Renew Deal]

3. Suddenly the pukes want to count votes.

lol

[otohara]

8. Chants of Count The Votes, Count The Votes -

that made me laugh.

[TahitiNut]

11. ... only the ones found living under rocks.

:evilgrin:

[neverforget]

16. and those that have been rejected too! What a bunch of fricking

hypocrites! SoreLosermans! Get over it! :nopity: :silly:

[buddysmellgood]

21. Yes, but only their votes.

[Orangepeel]

4. the votes have been counted, they've been recounted, re-recounted...

(only this time it's almost true)

:-p

Good for Gregoire! She stood up for the principle of counting every vote and ended up winning anyway. Yahoo!

[Broken Acorn]

5. What a joke for a party

They don't want to count the votes originally and whine about how much it's going to cost the taxpayers, blah, blah, blah.


Let THEM pay for a recount now and they'll probably find even more Dem votes that were discarded.

They are just shooting themselves in the foot and showing their true colors.

First they were against the recount and now they are for it. Waffle anyone?

[arwalden]

6. Of Course They Will...

... the glorious GOP wants to NOT count legitimate votes on imagined technicalities. Can you imagine what their reaction would be if these late votes had been found to be in their favor?

[Thor_MN]

7. I heard her on NPR last night

When asked about calling on Rossi to concede, she said that he called for her concession repeatedly, but that she would leave it up to him to decide what to do.

The thing that is so totally gratifying about all this is that state law prohibits another recount. They may be able to call for more counts in other areas, but King county is a done deal. In order to get any more action, they are going to have to claim fraud and take it to the Federal level. The "States Rights" GOP is going to have to admit to their hypocritical underpinnings in order to take it any further.

Hey, GOP!!! YOU LOST, GET OVER IT!!!

[TahitiNut]

9. Republicans have vowed to leave no (good) tern unstoned

... and they're not talking about pot-smoking seagulls.





Why am I not surprised that Reichbots spend so much time under rocks? Here we have the media acknowledging that's where they're found.

[rucky]

14. GET OVER IT! MOVE ON!

I've been wanting to say that for a long time. :)

[gratuitous]

15. Arriverderci, Rossi

There is no provision under state law to count the ballots again. The votes that were cast have been counted, and Christine Gregoire has been elected by the will of the people. She now has a mandate to govern the sovereign State of Washington, and we should all unite behind her as the chief executive of the state, representing the needs of all the people.

Get over it, GOP.

[robbedvoter]

17. Sore loser - get over it! We counted once, we counted twice...

[baby_bear]

18. GOP says it has 300 people who were disenfranchised

But from what I understand, these are at least in part, absentee votes that were received after election day or the envelopes were not signed. If those count anywhere, and they do not per state law, then they would have to count everywhere, and we would be right back in King County, but this time going through correctly rejected ballots rather than those that were erroneously rejected.
There's a big difference.

I do have an issue with people's ballots getting rejected based on signatures, but King County was the most stringent on that, so again, I don't see where the floor sweepings are going to help the Republicans. When the legitimate votes are counted, the Democrats prevail...as I suspect they would in Ohio and Florida as well.

b_b

[Jade Fox]

19. Hypocrite Rossi said he would not have asked for a recall like Gregoire..

did, but that of course was when he was ahead.

I hope the national Democratic Party takes note of what happened in
Washington State when we fought back, and grows some gonads.

[keopeli]

22. I live in Seattle

Like most states, WA has all the Dems concentrated in the Seattle area, and all the repubs in outlying areas. We're pretty split, but the Dems have had control for quite a while.

Here's how it went

First count, Rossi wins by about 200 votes - state law dictates automatic recount.

Second count, Rossi wins by about 100 votes - state law allows the losing candidate to ask for a hand recount of part or all of the state, as long as they will pay for it themselves (price tag = $700,000). The Democratic Party came up with the money. (Provisio - if the election swings in the hand recount, the state will pick up the tab.)

Hand recount, Gregoire wins by about 150 votes - state law actually prohibits further voluntary counts without cause (fraud, etc.).

This is the exacty scenario we had hoped for in Florida in 2000, and likely the way it would have happened had the hand recount happened (the one stopped by SCOTUS). Imagine if, last week, SCOTUS had stopped the WA recount. Or if they were to now declare it void and go with the second count.

I'm very proud of my state so far. Rossi has been on TV repeatedly, all smiles and talking like the governor, telling Gregoire to concede, etc. Now the other shoe has dropped and Gregoire is being magnanimous! It's like the bullies vs. the smart guys on the playground!

MOST NOTABLE!!! - Washington State now becomes the first state ever to have WOMEN ONLY as the top state officials (Sen. Patty Murray, Sen. Maria Cantwell, Gov. elect Christine Gregoire)!!!

[Newsjock]

23. Uppity wimmin

MOST NOTABLE!!! - Washington State now becomes the first state ever to have WOMEN ONLY as the top state officials (Sen. Patty Murray, Sen. Maria Cantwell, Gov. elect Christine Gregoire)!!!

And you can be darned sure that's what's eating at the craw of Rossi, Vance, and his backward crooks. They "lost to a girl."

[cascadiance]

24. Too bad Feinstein didn't run in the Cali recall election...

or we might have beaten to you to the punch! :) Though she would have appointed a woman to replace her in the senate I guess (Pelosi?)

[SKKY]

25. Didn't this anal-dwelling ass clown say Gregoire should...

...conceed gracefully? Where's the grace now Dino?

[philosophie_en_rose]

26. You know, I think it's time that Washingtonians stand together.

Votes, fraud, lawsuits, recounts -- what really matters here is that Washingtonians come together as one state. Christine Gregoire is a uniter, not a divider. Republicans too can share in the unity of her anointed leadership. :P

Seriously, Rossi showed his true colors by publicizing all manner of lies and insults. (such as claiming Gregoire's office published an opinion against recounts, when it was a prior AG). He can't even stand by his alleged conviction that the state is ready to move on. The State Supreme Court gave Rossi the finger and won't change its mind now.

[Rainscents]

27. No Matter How Many Times...

We do hand recounts in Washington State, Gregoire will win!!! That's because... original provisional ballots of over 3000 and absentee Democrats, court struck it down and said, those ballots Democrat cannot count because there were flaws. Well, if Rossi want every vote to be counted.......... He will lose by over 5000 votes!!!!!!!!!! Bring it on ROSSI!!!!!!!!!!!!

[truthisfreedom]

28. good. this sets the perfect precedent. they want to "count the votes

until they get the result they want." hahahhaha.

pukes.