Request for another governor's race recount expected this week 

06:03 AM PST on Monday, November 29, 2004

By KING5.com Staff

SEATTLE - As one recount flows into another, nearly four weeks after Election Day, voters still don't know who'll succeed Democrat Gary Locke as governor of Washington on Inauguration Day, Jan. 12. Republican Dino Rossi, the underdog, has won both counts that have been conducted so far, by the tiniest margin in state history. With all ballots counted, and recounted, Rossi led by just 42 votes of 2.8 million cast. But Democrat Christine Gregoire is fighting on. The Democrats are expected to ask for another recount by hand.

At a press conference last Wednesday Gregoire said a hand recount in at least some precincts or counties in Washington was the only way to discover who really won the election.

"In Washington State, we want to have confidence that the person who is sworn in in January is the person who was elected," Gregoire said.

Gregoire said her campaign had sent a letter to Secretary of State Sam Reed asking his office to address several anomalies in the vote counting process, including why thousands of provisional ballots had been thrown out without being counted, why some counties showed more votes than voters and why as many as 15,000 votes had changed between the initial tally and the recount.

"My friends, if the machines had done it right in the first place, we'd be in a handcount right now, well on our way to finding out who the next governor of Washington should be," Gregoire said to her supporters.

Her campaign has not, however, formally asked for a second recount yet. Gregoire said her campaign had not yet decided whether to ask for a full or partial recount.

Reed has said he and Gov. Gary Locke will certify Rossi's victory Tuesday. Gregoire and the Democrats will then have three days to request a recount.

"As far as we're concerned, Dino has won. Dino has won twice," said a jubilant Rossi spokeswoman Mary Lane. "It remains to be seen what Christine Gregoire will do after losing two counts, whether she wants to go ahead and drag the state through yet another count."

Reed said he would probably direct that a recount begin the following Monday, Dec. 6. The job could take as long as two weeks.

One possibility is that state Democrats or the Gregoire camp could ask for a hand recount of just some counties or even precincts that are most likely to yield extra votes for Gregoire. Democrats would have to pay for such a recount.

If a partial recount changes the outcome, however, state law requires a manual recount in the rest of the state. That would extend the uncertainty past Christmas.

Gregoire, 57, of Olympia, hoping to become only the state's second woman governor, carried eight of the 39 counties, most notably the largest, King, which includes heavily Democratic Seattle. Gregoire, strongly backed by the women's movement, is best known for battling America's tobacco industry.

Rossi, 45, a self-made real estate millionaire and former state Senate budget chairman from the Seattle suburb of Sammamish, was hoping to become the first Republican since 1980 to win the governor's mansion. He carried 31 of 39 counties and ran on a platform of change and job-creation.