How a Member of the US Commission on Civil Rights views the Governor's election here in WA

Source: National Review Online

May 24, 2005, 10:34 a.m.
The Never-Ending Gubernatorial Race
Rossi v. Gregoire, Round Two.

By Peter Kirsanow

The penultimate round in the dispute over the state of Washington gubernatorial election began Monday in a Chelan County courtroom. Republicans filed a petition contesting last November’s election — won by Democrat Christine Gregoire over Republican Dino Rossi by a mere 129 votes — on the grounds that the alleged errors, omissions, and misconduct of election officials rendered the election’s results unknowable. Republicans want the election set aside and a new election ordered.

Evidence uncovered in depositions and by local media reveals a vote-count process so questionable that it makes what one Democrat called the “nightmare of the Florida (2000) election” look like a model of electoral precision and probity. Nonetheless, the state’s standards for setting aside an election render Republicans’ success at the trial-court level far from certain.

On election night it had appeared that Rossi would win by just a few thousand votes out of approximately 2.9 million ballots cast. Then the fun began. Rossi’s lead narrowed to 261 after provisional ballots were counted two weeks later. A mandatory machine recount featuring a host of peculiarities further reduced Rossi’s lead to 42 votes. A hand recount ensued, providing Gregoire with an eventual victory after batches of uncounted votes kept popping up in boxes, warehouses, and even in the bases of the voting machines themselves. Gregoire was certified as governor on January 10, 2005.

It appeared as early as election night that there might be a challenge to the election. Polls conducted during the recount process showed a substantial majority of Washington state residents favored a revote. Polls also showed that a majority of citizens believed Rossi had won. Republicans filed an election-contest petition on January 7, 2005, citing numerous grounds for setting aside the election. Democrats initially contended that there was no basis for the petition, but evidence unearthed during the discovery process over the last few months suggests that the Republican case may be far more substantive than the rumors, myths, and legends that pervaded Florida 2000.

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