I’ve been thinking about my website lately and I’ve determined that there is too much political content on it. I think many of us had the election on our minds however so it was simply a reflection of what was going on with me at the time. Well the elections are sadly not over in our state. I do intend to ease up on the political content on this site but I just had to write something about the Governor’s race in the state of Washington.
For those that do not know this, we are facing a third recount in the race for Governor of our state because the race has been so close. Dino Rossi (R) has won both counts and now Chris Gregoire (D) is chanting the “every vote should count” mantra as good reason to continue dragging this thing out needlessly. Their desire is to have a hand recount only in counties that favor them. So much for the “every vote should count” idea.
The text below is taken from the home page of the Chris Gregoire campaign at http://www.gregoire2004.com/. I’ve attempted to translate from liberal speak to plain English. My comments are in red.
First of all, Happy Thanksgiving!
As you may have heard, the ongoing vote count has found numerous mistakes. Like all of those pesky votes for Dino Rossi, that MUST be a mistake.
It's also moved the race into a tie - with nearly 3 million votes cast, there's 42 votes between the two candidates. *AHEM* Last I heard a “tie” meant that the count was equal. 42 more votes for Rossi makes Rossi the winner.
Chris Gregoire believes that voters have a sacred right to have their ballots counted. That's been our goal throughout this process. Unless of course we had come out of it as the winner. Then you wouldn't be hearing all of this “every vote should count” nonsense.
We want every vote to be counted. But that hasn't happened yet. This race won't be over until every vote is counted. Since every vote has been counted twice, what we really mean is that this race won't be over until we find a way to win. Our best bet is for us to have a hand recount only in precincts that favor us. Did I say every vote should count?? I meant every vote that goes my way. I don't really give a rip about the other ones.
A letter is on its way to the secretary of state's office asking Secretary Reed to investigate and correct a number of anomalies and irregularities in the count. Actually the letter ended up being from an attorney who threatened litigation if this doesn't go my way, but we won't mention that here. You can read the letter that was sent by clicking here (or the attachment at the bottom of this entry.)
In particular, we want to know why 2700 provisional ballots were thrown out.
About 15,000 votes at the precinct level were read wrong by the machines, and shifted during this week's count. That's why there should be a hand count. In fact, if the machines had done their job correctly the first time, we would be in a hand count right now.
Only a hand count - open to observers from both parties - will protect people's sacred right to vote and provide a definitive answer to who won the election. And only that definitive answer will enable the next Governor to govern effectively.
Right now, our state is evenly split on who should be our next governor. Unless we count every vote, that division will linger. As the next governor tries to build a budget, tackle unemployment and spur the economy, they would be hampered by an unbridgeable partisan divide. And we will see to that by accusing Rossi of stealing the election every chance we get. When we're done with that we'll make sure and call George Bush a divider not a uniter.
It may take some more time to get all the votes counted. But in the end, it's worth a two week delay to have four years of certainty and to ensure that every vote is counted.
If the results of a hand count do not go the way Chris hopes and expects, she will offer Senator Rossi her support and do whatever she can to bring our state together. After she gets done suing.
In the meantime, both camps will continue to work on their transitions, and be ready to take office in January.
I want to thank you for all of your continued support, and wish a happy Thanksgiving for you and your loved ones.
perkins coie letter - dec 1 2004.pdf (231.72 KB)