Vote for governor in Washington certified

BELLEVUE, Wash. -- After three vote tallies, eight weeks of uncertainty, two trips to the state Supreme Court, and a barrage of partisan sniping, the Washington state gubernatorial race took its latest twist yesterday as the mantle of governor-elect switched hands from Republican Dino Rossi to Democrat Christine Gregoire.

"Less than two weeks from today I will take the oath of office as your next governor of the great State of Washington," Gregoire told supporters at a Capitol news conference.

Rossi declined to concede.

Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed certified Gregoire, a three-term attorney general, as governor-elect. A full statewide recount by hand of 2.9 million ballots ended last week as Gregoire gained a 129-vote advantage over Rossi. The race remained far from settled, however, as Republicans signaled their determination to fight on.

The certification marked a dramatic reversal of fortunes for the two candidates. In the initial tally of ballots, Rossi led by 261 votes. A mandatory machine recount shaved Rossi's margin further, to 42 votes. On Nov. 30, Rossi was certified as governor-elect, and the self-made real estate salesman and former state senator began planning his transition.

At a morning press conference yesterday in Olympia, the state capital, Reed declared that he was comfortable with the dramatic result from the hand recount. "I do not feel like this has been a botched election," he said.

He admitted, however, that the counting process had uncovered errors. "I saw serious mistakes being made. I saw them corrected," he said.

Rossi supporters stressed those errors and other perceived irregularities in the count, and they called for the current result to be scrapped in favor of starting over from scratch with a new election. "It was pure chaos. It was horrific," said Chris Vance, state Republican party chairman, referring to the vote counting in the Democratic stronghold of King County, where the addition of new Gregoire ballots had swung the election in her favor.

Vance cited a discrepancy uncovered by Republicans on Wednesday that showed that King County's list of those who voted in the November election was more than 3,500 voters short of the total number of votes tallied in the county. "Our experts are incredulous," he said, adding that election officials had cited "quality-control issues" as part of their explanation for the discrepancy.

At a press conference following Gregoire's certification at his campaign office in the Seattle suburb of Bellevue, Rossi refused to concede. Calling the recount process "a mess," Rossi reiterated his call for a new election and did not rule out formally contesting Gregoire's apparent victory.

The discrepancy in the voter roll in King County added to his concern, Rossi said. "These are just more questions that need to be sorted out," Rossi said. "You shouldn't be able to certify an election with 3,500 mystery voters."

Rossi spokeswoman Mary Lane indicated on Wednesday that Republicans were strongly suspicious that Gregoire's margin in King County may not have been legitimate. "At crucial junctures King County always seemed to find new ballots. It's bizarre," she said.

Dean Logan, the King County director of records, elections, and licensing, released a statement yesterday afternoon saying that the list in question was only a preliminary document.

Democrats heaped scorn on the idea of a revote. "Chris Gregoire is certified as the governor-elect. In January, she will be certified governor of Washington state. It's done. Game over. This isn't a video game where you can go and feed in more quarters," said Kirstin Brost, state Democratic Party spokeswoman.

As the counting has dragged on, the intensity of partisan rhetoric from both sides has mounted. Rossi supporters have begun routinely referring to King County as the Ukraine; Democrats have derided Rossi as "the accidental governor-elect" and "governor by mistake."

Republicans said that if Gregoire did not voluntarily accept the idea of a revote, they would consider formally contesting the result by pressing the Legislature, when it convenes Jan. 10, to throw out the election result in favor of a revote. Some Rossi supporters have begun contacting legislators to convey their mistrust of the current result.

Rossi conceded that the new Legislature, in which Democrats control both houses, might be difficult to sway. "We're going to have to have a very strong case," he said. Republicans have also not ruled out challenging Gregoire's victory in court.

Rossi has until Jan. 20 to formally challenge the election.

After the initial two counts, Rossi seemed to be sailing toward victory. But state Democrats raised nearly $1 million to pay for a full hand recount, as the law allows.

On Dec. 22 King County reported its results of the hand count. Gregoire gained a net total of 59 votes in the county during the recount, giving her a 10-vote lead overall. Gregoire received a further boost that afternoon, when the Washington state Supreme Court unanimously overturned a temporary restraining order issued by a lower court judge, allowing King County election officials to tally 566 ballots they discovered had been mistakenly rejected in the prior two counts. When those ballots were added into the count the following day, Gregoire's lead expanded to 129 votes.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.