Rossi: Time to Concede

The race for governor of Washington state was decided last week after a 2nd recount, with Democrat Christine Gregoire reversing the outcome of the two previous counts and winning by 130 votes.

As a reminder to those who haven't been following the chain of events (and if you haven't I'd suggest you check out my earlier couple of postings - And The Winner Is...?, and Let The Vote Recounting Commence - on the race for details), Dino Rossi, the Republican candidate, had a 261 vote advantage after the initial tally of almost 2.9 million votes, which triggered an automatic machine recount because it was under a 2000 vote difference. The result of the machine recount was a mere 42 vote advantage for Rossi, after more than 2400 new votes were counted, which prompted Gregoire, who had that right by law, to ask and pay for (at more than $700,000) one last recount, but this time by hand.

Rossi, and state of Washington Republican party chairman Chris Vance, lobbied publicly and vociferously against the 2nd manual recount. That it would destroy the integrity of the system. That a hand count could never be more accurate than a machine recount. That Gregoire should do the honorable things and concede. That she was trying to steal the election. That heavily Democratic King County votes were tainted by fraud.

Against their objections the re-recount, as allowed by law, proceeded. The Democrats tried unsuccessfully to have previously canvassed votes reassessed during the recount. They argued a recount should recount all the votes that were cast. The state Supreme Court decided that only votes that were previously deemed valid would be recounted. However, during the recount King County realized that over 500 previously uncounted votes had been mistakenly rejected because the voters signatures were not in the computer records. It turned out that they should have checked paper records, but neglected to follow procedures and do so. The Republicans went to court to stop these votes from being added to the tally after the King County election board decided to correct their error and do so. This time the Supreme Court unanimously allowed for the election board to correct the mistake, siding with voters who would have been otherwise disenfranchised. Nevertheless, without the new votes Gregoire would have still won the final recount by 10 votes. The final manual recount included an additional 1700 plus new votes that the machines could not discern.

By contesting the process with accusations of fraud and theft, the Republicans in Washington state have shrewdly been setting the stage for what is now expected to be their next move: contesting the entire election as tainted. Clearly had they won the final recount they would have accepted that decision, it being in their favor. Now that this most unprecedented of elections has ended in a reversal of the original outcome, they have refused to concede. They have succeeded in convincing the general public that something very fishy happened in King County, even though there is no outright proof that is has, putting in doubt the legitimacy of the winner in the minds of Washingtonians, and the media has done little to provide facts to the contrary.

Yet there is data that supports the fact that although this was the closest race of this magnitude in U.S. history, there was no malice or fraud involved, and election boards made unbiased and good faith efforts to count valid votes. With almost 900,000 votes King County, which includes Seattle, accounts for almost a third of the total votes in the state, which is why carrying the county at nearly 58% was so significant in the final outcome for Gregoire. Yet when Republicans point to King County's newly found votes, only 36% came from the Democratic stronghold. In fact seven other counties reported a significantly greater vote adjustment as a percentage of the county's votes. Those include Republican leaning Pierce County, for example, which accounted for 23% of the new votes, even though the county accounts for only 11% of the vote total. Republican stronghold Walla Walla County accounted for 2.7% of the new votes, even though the county accounts for less than 1% of the vote total. Republican stronghold Adams County adjusted their original totals by as much as 0.7% which is a huge change.

The entire recount process was extremely transparent. Democrats and Republicans were able to observe and participate in the process. Reporting by Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat showed that the many layers of checks and verifications during the manual recount clearly improved the accuracy of the vote, and helped determine with confidence the intent of voters when they didn't follow voting instructions perfectly (such as using a lightly shaded pencil to fill in a circle, or circling a choice on an optically scanned ballot).

Usually elections don't get this close, and we don't have the opportunity to discover 4100 new votes. Yes, some votes were simply missed, but it happened in all the counties. The 500 absentee votes King County screwed up on had not been opened, so the votes could not have been altered. They were simply mis-categorized through no fault of the voters. To suggest fraud is reckless. To use that as a basis for a new election is simply wrong. The election was close, the closest in history, and a recount changed the outcome, which is rare, but sometimes rare things happen without it being due to fraud or theft or chicanery.

Republicans want the results thrown out, even though even the Republican Secretary of State Sam Reed has reminded us that even if either candidate received only one vote more than the other that would be enough to produce a decision and a winner, as disappointing as that may be to the loser. Yet, I should point out that there was a third candidate, Ruth Bennett, a Libertarian, who picked up 2.3% of the vote, more than 63000 votes. If the results are thrown out and a run off election is called, it is likely many of this pro same-sex marriage candidate's supporters will switch their vote to Gregoire. Either way you look at it Rossi has next to no chance to gain from contesting the election, and Washingtonians will have to foot the bill.

Some clear thinking Republicans have suggested Rossi concede and regroup to run in a future election, perhaps against Democratic senator Maria Cantwell. Whatever the reason, Rossi and his Republican mouth pieces have demonstrated, through their vitriol and hyperbole, they are made of the same stuff as their national counterparts in D.C. and will circumvent the voters wishes and head to the courts to win elections. I can only hope that future voters will see it for the double talk it is.

Mr. Rossi, the other team scored more points this time. You lost. Deal with it.

Final Word

In the wake of the tragic tsunami in Asia it is hard not to give a thought for the thousands of dead and grieving survivors. For many, a beautiful sunny day turned into a sudden nightmare without warning. That is how death comes to a lot of people, often unexpectedly. It is hard to tell if knowing it will come makes one more fortunate. What it does do is remind us of the fragility of life and how easy it is for us to take it for granted.