In the Northwest: A governor's race full of partisan sound and fury

By JOEL CONNELLY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST   22 December 2004

In case you missed the movie "Twister," our Washington governor's race is a never-ending source of swirling hot air, howling sounds and crazy changes in direction.

The gusty rhetoric coming from both sides has been determined by the tally of votes rather than what is actually going on. King County elections chief Dean Logan has dubbed it "ive outrage."

Howling by partisans has blown away public trust for the process and upstaged the photo-finish outcome toward which we seem to be headed.

Well-placed Democrats were privately predicting last night that the hand recount in King County will give Chris Gregoire a tiny lead, with the county yet to count disputed ballots being fought over in court.

Not so long ago, Republican State Chairman Chris Vance was excoriating the Democrats for going to court over the recount.

"King County is doing the right thing by including Democrats and Republicans in the counting process, and I am amazed that Christine Gregoire has the gall to challenge this plan in the state Supreme Court," Vance declared.

At another point, Chairman Vance reiterated his antipathy to post-election lawyering: "John Kerry did the right thing by choosing not to drag the presidential election into court. Slade Gorton made the same choice in the 2000 election. I hope Christine Gregoire will follow their example."

Yet, the election is back before the Supreme Court today.

It is the Republicans who have gone to court to stop King County from counting 735 ballots discovered during the second recount.

  
  
The voters played by the rules. County election workers rejected their ballots due to erroneous belief there were no matching signatures by which to verify the ballots.

Thanks to badly overmatched Pierce County Superior Court Judge Stephanie Arend who granted a temporary restraining order that blocked counting of the newly discovered votes the Supremes get the hot potato back again, and face questions that go beyond legal briefs in front of them.

Will the governor's race be decided in court, possibly circumventing the election's actual result?

If the King County ballots are disallowed, enterprising journalists will promptly file requests to see them under the Public Disclosure Act. Gregoire could emerge with a clear lead just as Gov. Dino Rossi prepares to take office.

Vance was being sensible when he said, "The voters should decide the governor of Washington, not lawyers, judges, and worst of all, the Democratic-controlled Legislature." Apparently, Vance has come to trust lawyers now that he needs to prove that some voters cannot be trusted.

Will newly discovered votes be counted elsewhere in the state, but not in King County?

According to state Elections Director Nick Handy, at least five Washington counties discovered ballots not included in the original count for governor, and added them in the recount. Snohomish County discovered 224 valid ballots under empty mail trays.

Will voters in both the Rossi and Gregoire camps be disenfranchised because county elections screwed up and were forbidden to correct miscues and overlooked votes?

In his filing for today's hearing, Handy cited a provision of state election law. "The purpose of Section 210 is to provide a 'safety valve' for counties to correct errors, inconsistencies and discrepancies in election returns, primarily where the county has made an error or omission," he declared.

"Deadlines exist in statutes relating to submission of ballots and verification of signatures that bring closure to the correction of errors by voters. Section 210 is designed so that voters will not be disenfranchised due to errors by election officials."

When a Democratic suit was argued before the Supremes earlier this month, the Republicans' lawyer told the court that "in the process of retabulating the ballots in a hand retabulation, there is a role for the (county) Canvassing Board."

The deadlock of democracy isn't pretty.

"Rossi the Thief" proclaimed one Democratic e-mail broadside entering my computer this week. "Chairman Vance," for the Republicans, has questioned the ethics of King County election officials and hinted at fraud.

Nasty Web sites have been erected by partisans of both sides, www.accidentalgovernor.com for the Democrats and www.gregoirethegrinch with Rossi supporters.

Republicans' amen corner talk radio and Wall Street Journal pundit John Fund have inundated King County officials with innuendo.

The GOP elephant has proven an agile beast when it comes to changing direction. Gregoire was ridiculed when she said the race was a tie. With her prospects improved, however, former Secretary of State Ralph Munro wants a revote.

Does anybody come out of this looking credible?

Secretary of State Sam Reed, a Republican, has filed pleadings saying the law does allow King County to count votes. He has followed the advice of competent counsel and not taken the path of partisanship.

If the Supremes read Handy's declaration, they'll learn the role of canvassing boards and how recounts correct errors. Handy ran as a Republican for land commissioner in 1992.

Under enormous pressure, King County elections chief Logan has fessed up to mistakes involving uncounted ballots. A predecessor was bounced after a botched election produced much buck-passing.

A final, funny development is juxtaposition of the Washington gubernatorial contest with the election for president of Ukraine.

Both locales saw election irregularities. Nobody has been physically poisoned here, although talk from the airwaves has made rancid our political atmosphere.

Ukraine's election was held in mid-November. The revote is this Sunday.

Their timing and ours makes some of us smile every time the media report an from Kiev: The difference is that Ukrainians will never know what the election irregularities were in their country.

Our miscues are on the table, and will live for at least four years.