561 ballots that were initially rejected because the signature did not match the signature on record might be included in the recount. It turns out that there was no signature on record for these ballots, and the rejected ballots included King County Council Chairman Larry Phillips. All the mistakenly rejected ballots are from King County, which is very heavily democratic. If the mistake is corrected and the ballots counted, this could put Democrat Christine Gregoire in the governor's house next year.
The full story from the Seattle P.I.
This seriously kicks ass. Dino Rossi is a truly frightening right-wing freak.
Full Version: New Twist In Wa Gov Race
More proof of when the votes are actually counted the repuke loses.
| QUOTE (renodude @ Monday, 13 December 2004, 7:25 pm) |
| More proof of when the votes are actually counted the repuke loses. |
Bingo!
"Those who cast the votes determine nothing. Those who COUNT the votes determine everything." --Stalin.
All the more reason why a full and honest HAND count of the votes MUST take place. Because if honest counting doesn't get done, guess what gets in???
'Bina.
That is why we should not give up on Ohio everyone knows if every vote is counted bush lost it.
Oh, there's no doubt. And there's no doubt it was done several sneaky ways: racist challengers, faulty machines, hacked machines, not enough machines (leading to lineups so long, countless people just said "fuck it!" and went back home or to work without voting), provisional ballots being withheld, provisional ballots being issued to people who should have gotten full-fledged ones, provisional ballots "lost" or "misplaced" or not counted for whatever flimsy reason.
If these "irregularities" didn't exist, guess who'd really have won Ohio--AND Florida?
'Bina.
If these "irregularities" didn't exist, guess who'd really have won Ohio--AND Florida?
'Bina.
| QUOTE (BinaBecker @ Tuesday, 14 December 2004, 8:53 am) |
| Oh, there's no doubt. And there's no doubt it was done several sneaky ways: racist challengers, faulty machines, hacked machines, not enough machines (leading to lineups so long, countless people just said "fuck it!" and went back home or to work without voting), provisional ballots being withheld, provisional ballots being issued to people who should have gotten full-fledged ones, provisional ballots "lost" or "misplaced" or not counted for whatever flimsy reason. If these "irregularities" didn't exist, guess who'd really have won Ohio--AND Florida? 'Bina. |
Nader right? Just kidding I am convinced Gore won FL and Kerry won Ohio.
Actually, Kerry won both this time around. But shhh, we're not supposed to believe that. We're supposed to believe that "values voters" and insecurity moms fell in love with the sock-stuffed bulge in Dubya's flight suit, or some such, and that's why he's still there. 
'Bina.
'Bina.
I think Kerry actually won a few more states as well. NV for instance was stolen by some local officials here.
Yeah, that's what I heard too. A guy at Mike Malloy's board, Spitfire, said there were long lineups at F-911 when it was being shown, and we know how THEY were likely to have voted. He also said there were barely any Bush/Cheney signs to be seen.
Deeds speak...
'Bina.
Deeds speak...
'Bina.
There were twice as many Kerry stickers as there were Bush and I live in the conservative part of the state. I think they tampered with early voting.
I'm CERTAIN they did. And deflected attention by focusing on Florida and Ohio instead in the media...
'Bina.
'Bina.
| QUOTE (BinaBecker @ Tuesday, 14 December 2004, 6:19 pm) |
| I'm CERTAIN they did. And deflected attention by focusing on Florida and Ohio instead in the media... 'Bina. |
Also why chimpy started his assault on falujah (sp?) after the election it not only was timed so it couldn't hurt his chances it also covereed up voter fraud pretty well.
And of course, don't forget the current kerfuffle over Scott Peterson. Could THAT be better timed? I don't think so!
'Bina.
'Bina.
| QUOTE (BinaBecker @ Tuesday, 14 December 2004, 8:09 pm) |
| And of course, don't forget the current kerfuffle over Scott Peterson. Could THAT be better timed? I don't think so! 'Bina. |
That I am not so sure on but, hey I have been wrong before.
| QUOTE |
| A judge Friday granted a state Republican Party request to block the counting of hundreds of recently discovered King County ballots in the governor's race, which the GOP's candidate is winning by just a few dozen votes. Even if the election workers wrongly rejected the ballots -- 150 of which were discovered Friday -- it is too late for King County to reconsider them now, Pierce County Superior Court Judge Stephanie Arend said. The issue of the ballots could prove pivotal: With all but King County finished with a hand recount, Republican Dino Rossi was leading Democrat Christine Gregoire by 50 votes. From reading state law and state Supreme Court decisions, "it is clear to me that it is not appropriate to go back and revisit decisions on whether ballots should or should not be counted," Arend said. Democrats appealed to the state Supreme Court, and King County Elections Director Dean Logan said the county also planned to appeal. "These are legitimate voters who cast legitimate ballots," he said. "It's just a travesty if we do not include these ballots." Rossi spokeswoman Mary Lane said the judge made the right decision. "If King County were allowed to keep adding more ballots, elections would never end," Lane said. As for those whose ballots aren't counted, she said: "That is King County's fault. We cannot be held responsible for the fact that King County made a mistake." State Supreme Court Chief Justice Gerry Alexander said the high court is prepared to take up the case next week. Rossi won the Nov. 2 election over Gregoire by 261 votes in the first count and by 42 after a machine recount of the 2.9 million votes cast. Additional votes have been tallied in a hand recount sought by Democrats. By Friday night, Rossi had gained eight votes in the hand recount for an overall lead of 50, with every county reporting except King, a Democratic stronghold. King County officials and Democrats want to include 723 newfound ballots in the hand recount, saying they are valid ballots that were mistakenly rejected because of county workers' errors. "From the beginning, this has been about fixing mistakes and counting every legitimate ballot," Gregoire said in a statement Friday. "The people of Washington deserve an accurate count." Republicans sued, saying it was too late to add ballots to the recount now. Arend granted the GOP a temporary restraining order to stop elections workers from taking the newly discovered ballots out of their outer envelopes, which bear the voter's signature. County elections officials had said ballots would not be separated from their security envelopes until the lawsuit was decided. Jack Oxford is one of the voters whose ballots Arend said should not be counted. "She said, 'Jack, your vote doesn't count,'" said Oxford, 50, an electrical field supervisor from Enumclaw. "I'm very upset, very distressed." Early this week, county workers found 573 ballots that elections officials say were mistakenly rejected because there was a problem with how the voters' signatures had been scanned into the county's computer system. County workers should have checked for a paper signature to verify the ballot during the original count, but instead they were put in the reject pile. Workers found another 150 ballots Friday after officials noticed that none of the 573 ballot envelopes contained names beginning with the letters A or B, and only two started with C. The plastic trays containing ballots from voters with last names beginning with A, B and C were apparently overlooked because they were under other trays, said Bill Huennekens, King County elections superintendent. "It is a serious mistake we made, but we are going to do the right thing for the citizens of King County," Huennekens said. "We've conducted this election in an open and transparent manner. We're not trying to hide anything." State GOP spokesman Chris Vance called those ballots "very suspicious." The King County Canvassing Board has yet to decide the fate of 22 other uncounted ballots, found this week in the side bins of plastic base units in which polling machines sit. |
Question, possibly rhetorical: Why do Repugs hate democracy so much? And what the devil have they got against full, fair, ACCOUNTABLE elections?
'Bina.
Time to break out the bubbly in Washington! The votes are counted, and Democrat CHRISTINE GREGOIRE is in by a nose--eight votes!
http://www.komotv.com/stories/34500.htm
http://www.komotv.com/stories/34500.htm
| QUOTE |
| The head of the state Democratic Party said late Tuesday that recount results from King County give Democrat Christine Gregoire an eight-vote victory in the closest governor's race in state history. Neither King County nor the Republican party could confirm the hand recount results on Tuesday night. But if the Democrats' analysis is correct, it's a stunning reversal in the gubernatorial race, which has been hotly contested ever since election day. Republican Dino Rossi won the first count by 261 votes and won a machine recount by 42 votes, out of 2.9 million ballots cast. "We're confident Christine Gregoire has been elected the governor of the state of Washington," Democratic Chairman Paul Berendt said. "I believe Dino Rossi should concede." Berendt and Democratic party officials reached their conclusion after crunching numbers supplied by King County. The county has finished tallying its 900,000 ballots, but election officials said they still need to reconcile differences in the precinct totals. "We are not releasing our results until tomorrow at 3:30 p.m.," said King County Elections spokeswoman Bobbie Egan, who confirmed that both parties received the recount data Tuesday. Rossi spokeswoman Mary Lane said Republicans are also looking at the data but had not drawn any conclusions. "It's just too close to call," she said. The Rossi camp has said that if it lost the third count it might challenge the election in court, and Republicans were already preparing for a possible legal challenge. Gregoire had promised to concede if she lost the recount. --MORE-- |
Isn't it so typical? The Repugs wanted to stop the recount. Now they're probably going to press for another one of their own in the hopes that it will throw the race to them.
Yeah, RIGHT.
'Bina.
Christine Gregoire's margin of victory has just broadened considerably!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6744362/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6744362/
| QUOTE |
| Democrat Christine Gregoire won the Washington governor's race by 130 votes out of 2.9 million ballots cast, according to final recount results announced Thursday from Seattle's King County, the last of the state's 39 counties to report. Hundreds of belatedly discovered ballots helped extend what otherwise would have been just a 10-vote advantage for Gregoire in her topsy-turvy race with Republican Dino Rossi. The first ballot count showed Rossi winning by 261 votes, and a subsequent machine recount had Rossi winning by 42. The latest recount was conducted by hand. "Wooo-hooo!" exulted state Democratic Party spokeswoman Kirstin Brost moments after the results were announced. "We're very excited. We always believed she would win." Secretary of State Sam Reed is scheduled to certify the election Dec. 30. After that, the election results probably will be challenged in court, or possibly the Legislature. State law allows any registered voter to challenge election results, and Republicans have begun asking that elections officials reconsider votes for Rossi that they say were wrongly rejected. "We're going to be going across the state demanding they make every vote count," Rossi spokeswoman Mary Lane said earlier Thursday. (They were perfectly content NOT to make every vote count earlier. Whence cometh this sudden and oh-so-hypocritcal about-face?)Since Election Day, Gregoire has gone from favorite to underdog and back to favorite. A three-term state attorney general, Gregoire, 57, was widely viewed as the anointed successor to Democrat Gov. Gary Locke. Rossi, 45, a real estate agent and former state senator, jumped into the race only after the GOP's first three choices declined to run. Washington is a blue state -- Democrats hold the majority in the Legislature, both U.S. senators are Democrats, and John Kerry won 53 percent of the statewide vote. But Washington voters also flaunt a strong independent streak, and Rossi's sunny message of change caught on with swing voters. Gregoire and Rossi spent about $6 million each during the campaign, a new state record, and outside groups spent millions more. After Rossi won the first two counts, Democrats paid $730,000 for the hand recount. By law the state has to repay the party if the recount reverses the results. "We asked for a hand count because we knew machines make mistakes," Brost said. During the hand recount, King County election officials discovered that hundreds of ballots had been mistakenly rejected because of problems with how the voters' signatures had been scanned into the computer system. Over Republican objections, the state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that state law allows county canvassing boards to correct mistakes in the returns, allowing King County to count those 732 ballots. Election officials found 566 of those ballots to be valid; 311 were for Gregoire, 191 for Rossi. On Thursday morning, Republicans submitted affidavits to King County elections officials from 91 people who voted for Rossi and believe their ballots were erroneously rejected. Dean Logan, the county's elections director and one of three members on its canvassing board, said those ballots would not be re-evaluated because they had been properly considered and rejected. Despite Republicans' requests, most auditors statewide have decided not to reconsider rejected ballots, said Corky Mattingly, Yakima County?s auditor and president of the Washington State Association of County Auditors. The auditors agree with Reed, a Republican, that state law prohibits counties from recanvassing after their results have been certified, Mattingly said. "This is the end," Mattingly said Thursday. "You don't just keep recertifying and recertifying." Republicans also have accused King County of failing to send absentee ballots to military voters or sending them too late, and they want that mistake corrected, too. Logan said all absentee ballots were sent out on time, including those to military voters. "You will continue to hear accusations of fraud, of changing rules, of manufactured votes," Logan said Thursday, addressing rumors that have been flying on local blogs and talk radio. "I believe the record shows most of these allegations, if not all of them, are totally untrue." An election challenge could go through state courts or possibly to the state Legislature -- experts disagree on what the law says. If the losing side alleges possible violations of the equal protection clause in the U.S. Constitution, the election could end up in federal court. "The (state) Supreme Court just changed the rules," state GOP Chairman Chris Vance said Wednesday. "Now we will aggressively fight by those new rules." If further legal wrangling holds up the Jan. 12 inauguration of a new governor, Locke may have to stay. Locke has made it clear he is not interested in hanging around. |
So, there you go. Christine Gregoire has truly won fair and square.
And the Repugs are still whining. As usual.
'Bina.
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