Democrats sue over rejected ballots; another recount next week

Dino camp outraged

02:02 PM PST on Saturday, December 4, 2004

KING5.com Staff and Wire Reports

OLYMPIA, Wash. - Democrats will pay for a second statewide recount in Washington's ultra-close governor's race, hoping to erase the 42-vote margin held by Republican Dino Rossi.

The party also headed to the state Supreme Court on Friday to seek a ruling that all ballots be treated the same from county to county. That would mean considering some previously uncounted ballots, particularly in Democratic-leaning King County.

Chief Justice Gerry Alexander said the court may hear oral arguments next Wednesday or Thursday.

Less than a day after Democrat Christine Gregoire vowed to concede the race for governor unless Democrats come up with enough money for a full rather than partial vote recount, her party said it had the money to do so.

"We're going to count every vote in every county whether it's a Gregoire County or a Rossi County," chairman of the state Democratic Party Paul Berendt said at a 2 p.m. news conference also attended by current Gov. Gary Locke.

Berendt said the state party wrote a $730,000 check as a down payment on a hand recount. Although the party got a big boost with a $250,000 contribution from former presidential candidate John Kerry, Berendt said contributions from the party faithful put the party over the top.

Much of that money came in after an appeal was made by Vermont Gov. and former presidential contender Howard Dean.

Locke said the recount was needed because of the margin between the two candidates - 42 votes of nearly 3 million cast - and because even the accuracy of vote counting machines left the result of the race in question.

"Even at a 99.9 percent of accuracy, that's a swing of a potential 3,000 votes. Even if the machines are 99.99 percent accurate, that's a swing of 300 votes," Locke said.

Democrats are also heading straight to the state Supreme Court to seek a ruling that all ballots be treated the same from county to county.

He referred to hundreds of questioned ballots, including provisional ballots and absentee votes, that were rejected by some counties.

"We will not be bullied by Bush White House lawyers or irresponsible threats from Senator Rossi's campaign," Berendt added.

The party is seeking to recount all 2.9 million votes cast for governor on Nov. 2 - not just votes in selected counties.

Secretary of State Sam Reed is expected to order the new count on Monday and most counties are expected to begin the laborious job Wednesday. Reed says the count should be completed by Dec. 23 unless there are legal challenges.

Republicans were outraged at the prospect of a third vote count and a legal battle.

"It sounds like they want to make Florida look like a tea party," complained Mary Lane, a Rossi spokeswoman. "It's outrageous, it's dangerous and it shows how little Christine Gregoire cares about the Democratic process. She will do virtually anything to try to win.

"We are not going to let this stand. We will not let her try to steal this election. Dino has won this election twice legitimately and Christine Gregoire is trying to overturn this election illegitimately."

Gregoire threatened to concede

On Thursday, Gregoire had said that she would concede the race to Republican Dino Rossi if her party chose to ask that only some counties or precincts to counted..

“If they can’t raise enough money to do a statewide recount manual recount, then I’m not interested in a recount at all,” said Gregoire.

"I want the voters to feel good about the results because all of the votes have been counted in every part of the state and they have confidence that the next governor is the dually elected governor," Gregoire said.

In a sternly worded public statement to her party, Gregoire told party leaders on Thursday to stop talking about a partial recount of an election that ended with her 42 votes behind Republican Dino Rossi.

“My request of the state Democratic Party is simple: Count the entire state or don’t count at all,” she said in the statement released by her campaign office. “Counting every vote is the only right thing to do.”

In an AP interview later, she was even stronger, “I’m saying that at 5 o’clock (Friday), if they haven’t called for a statewide recount, I’m done.”

Gregoire, 57, the three-term attorney general, trailed Rossi, 45, a former state Senate power, by just 42 votes after a machine recount was certified last week. Rossi won the initial vote count by 261 ballots, a margin so close it triggered the mandatory machine recount.

Rossi and the Republican Party have urged Gregoire to concede.

The party requesting a further hand recount must pay for it, at roughly 25 cents per ballot.

The Democrats had been scrambling to come up with more than $1 million to pay for the full manual recount.

Berendt said Friday that he expected the recount to cost upwards of $1.2 million to $1.4 million.

By late Thursday they had about $650,000 of the approximately $750,000 deposit that would be required by the state’s 5 p.m. Friday deadline, said Kirstin Brost, state Democratic Party spokeswoman.

The fund-raising drive got a big boost when the party’s unsuccessful presidential candidate, Sen. John Kerry, donated $250,000 of his leftover campaign funds. The Democratic National Committee and other donor groups are helping.

As of Thursday morning, the state party had received $135,000 in online contributions, with more than 10,000 contributors, Brost said.

In addition to paying for the hand recount, the party faces legal bills and staff costs, driving the total to more than $1 million, she said.

Gregoire and her party have been under pressure to count the full state, rather than “cherry pick” selected counties to try to overturn the election. Outgoing Gov. Gary Locke and other elected officials, as well as many newspaper editorial pages, have urged the party to count all 6,686 precincts.

“I know it would be cheaper for the party to do a limited hand recount,” Gregoire said. “And I know it would be possible to just count a few counties and put me in the lead.

“That doesn’t work for the voters of our state. From the beginning, this has been about getting all the votes counted so we can know for sure who won the governor’s race.”

She added, “It is imperative that we send the message, ‘Every vote, everywhere, must be counted.’ No games.”

The two parties exchanged testy comments about the Democrats’ letter to Secretary of State Sam Reed demanding a fresh review of ballots that were previously rejected by canvassing boards.

Attorney David Burman said hundreds of provisional ballots and more than 1,500 absentee ballots were rejected in King County alone and that counties didn’t handle disputed ballots uniformly.

In the letter, state Democrats threatened legal action if every county isn’t allowed to re-examine discarded ballots, a policy used in King and other major counties but not in the majority of the state.

Former Republican Governor Dan Evans said the Democrats are trying to change the rules too late in the game.

"I think that we will see lawyers in every county, I think we will see of hassling of individual ballots just like in Florda four years ago, I think we will see challenges of almost everything," said Evans.

Republicans pointed to a line in Burman’s letter that said:

“Pre-recount litigation is an option, but we hope your office will do everything possible to keep that from becoming necessary.”

Republican state Chairman Chris Vance said the threat of lawsuits and the demands about expanding the ballot count could amount to “an out-and-out attempt to steal the election.”

Gregoire and the Democrats said they have no intention of lengthy litigation, but want the next recount to be accurate—and final.

Barring legal complications, a recount could start next week and end by Dec. 23. If state Democrats raise the required money, the actually full hand recount will take several weeks.