Lead Shifts in Washington Gubernatorial Vote

Washington’s Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that 735 newly discovered ballots in liberal-leaning King County must be counted, tipping the state’s closest-ever gubernatorial election to Democrat Christine Gregoire.

The decision reversed a lower court ruling that had prevented the state’s most populous county from considering the disputed ballots.

But after seven weeks, three statewide tallies and several court decisions, the contest is far from over as talk mounts of further legal challenges -- and possibly even an unprecedented statewide revote.

A hand recount completed Wednesday afternoon, just hours after the court ruling, had Gregoire leading Republican candidate Dino Rossi by 10 votes -- a stunning reversal in a race that had Rossi ahead in both the original tally and a mandatory machine recount.

The hand count did not include the 735 King County ballots, which election officials planned to canvass this afternoon.

“It is too early to declare victory,” said Gregoire, a three-term attorney general. “Although we’re ahead right now, there are still hundreds of votes to be counted.”

Gregoire called Wednesday’s court ruling a “huge victory” for Washington, and said that she hoped a winner would be determined by the end of the week because there were “huge issues facing this state, and we need to get on with it.”

Rossi’s campaign, however, has accused state Democrats of conducting a treasure hunt for votes in order to steal the election. A legal challenge from Republicans to the latest ruling is virtually assured, although what form it will take is not clear.

Both sides have brought up the possibility of asking the Legislature to intervene. Lawmakers could conceivably ask for a revote early next year.

GOP leaders said Wednesday that they will now ask counties to reconsider hundreds of rejected or overlooked ballots -- almost guaranteeing that the battle will drag on into the new year.

“Now that the Supreme Court has decided this is a recanvassing issue,” said Rossi spokeswoman Mary Lane, “we have ballots across the state that we believe were erroneously rejected, and we will be asking [counties] to recanvass them.

“To borrow a phrase from our friends in the Democratic Party, ‘Every vote should count.’ ”

Election officials already have hinted that the Jan. 12 inauguration date could be pushed back.

“The battle is not over,” said state GOP Chairman Chris Vance, who vowed to “fight by the new rules.”

Gregoire, 57, was the favorite going into the election against Rossi, 45, a real estate agent and former state senator.

But Rossi won the initial vote, tallied two weeks after election day, by 261 votes out of nearly 2.9 million cast. Because the race was so close, state law mandated a machine recount, which Rossi won again, this time by 42 votes on Nov. 30.

Democrats then sought and funded a hand recount, which began Dec. 8. With every county reporting except for King, Rossi held a 49-vote lead. All attention was drawn toward King County, which encompasses Seattle.

King County officials last week announced during the hand recount that they discovered 735 absentee ballots that an election worker mistakenly put in the wrong bin and forgot. A judge in a neighboring county granted Republicans a restraining order to stop King County from counting those ballots.

At the Supreme Court hearing Wednesday morning, Republicans argued that King County officials had rejected, not overlooked, the disputed ballots and that, therefore, the votes should not be counted. Attorney Harry Korell said Democrats were trying “to expand the universe of valid ballots” in order to win the election.

Democrats maintained that election officials in many other counties, during the two recounts, had made “new decisions” about counting previously unrecorded ballots. Attorney David Burman said excluding valid ballots would infringe on voters’ rights.

The justices deliberated for two hours before issuing their unanimous decision.

Gov. Gary Locke, a Democrat, said he was pleased with the court’s decision but added that the process continued “to point to the need for election reform in our state.”

“We need to have common standards and practices for counting ballots and determining whether ballots are legitimate.”

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An account of the recount

In the disputed governor’s race in Washington, Republican candidate Dino Rossi’s edge over Christine Gregoire on election day has shrunk after subsequent machine and hand counts. The Democratic Party now puts Gregoire ahead by 10 votes.

Nov. 2: Election

Nov. 17: Rossi leads by 261 votes out of 2.9 million cast. State law triggers a machine recount.

Nov. 30: Machine recount shows Rossi leading by 42 votes.

Dec. 8: Counties begin recounting ballots by hand.

Dec. 13: King County discovers mistakenly rejected ballots.

Dec. 17: Judge’s order blocks King County from counting 735 rejected ballots. Hand recount shows Rossi leading by 49.

Dec. 22: Democrats say King County results show Gregoire leading by 10 votes. Washington Supreme Court rules that the 735 ballots should be counted.

Sources: Washington secretary of state, Associated Press. Graphics reporting by Julie Sheer