Rossi asks Gregoire to join in a re-vote

10:25 PM PST on Wednesday, December 29, 2004

Associated Press and KING Staff Reports

BELLEVUE, Wash. - Republican Dino Rossi is calling for a re-vote in the close governor's race.

Rossi said Wednesday night he made the proposal in a letter to Democrat Christine Gregoire, who won the latest recount of ballots, and who is expected to be certified as the winner tomorrow by Secretary of State Sam Reed.

"The uncertainty surrounding this election process isn't just bad for you and me - it is bad for the entire state. People need to know for sure that the next governor actually won the election," Rossi said, reading from a letter he sent to Gregoire.

"A revote would be the best solution for the people of our state, and would give us a legitimate governorship," the letter went on to say.

A call to the Gregoire campaign was not immediately returned.

Secretary of State Sam Reed is set to certify the election Thursday, making Gregoire the governor-elect.

After more than 2.8 million votes were counted three times, she won by 129 votes. Rossi had won the first count by 261 votes and the first recount by 42.

The turnaround means Democrats will get a refund of the $730,000 they paid for the second recount. Counties will have to pay the costs.

Gregoire's spokesman Morton Brilliant said she would not be joining Rossi's call.

"This ain't golf," he said. "No mulligans allowed here, folks. It's irresponsible to spend $4 million in taxpayer money on a new election just because you don't like losing this one."\

He said Gregoire planned no statement Wednesday night.

While noting that he could contest the election, Rossi said Wednesday that a legal challenge could drag on for weeks or months.

KING

Dino Rossi reads from the letter he wrote Gregoire Wednesday.

The better way to clear up the mess, he said, would be to ask lawmakers to pass a bill calling for a special election as soon as the Democrat-controlled state Legislature convenes Jan. 10.

Asked what he would do if Gregoire rebuffed his request, Rossi said his campaign would take a close look at election data it requested from King County and go from there. GOP leaders have spent the last several days weighing whether to proceed with contesting the results.

Gov. Gary Locke said he strongly disagrees with Rossi's call for another election. "The people have voted, and all votes properly cast were counted," said Locke, a Democrat who's retiring after two terms.

Last-ditch fight

Counties have refused to reopen the vote count in Washington’s ultra-close governor’s race, and Rossi was reported under pressure Tuesday to carry a last-ditch fight into the courts.

The three vote counts in America’s closest governor’s race are over, and on Thursday morning, Secretary of State Sam Reed is prepared to certify Gregoire as the victor by 129 votes, state elections chief Nick Handy said.

Canvassing boards in Grays Harbor, Kittitas, Lewis and Clark counties on Tuesday decided to not reconsider ballots some previously rejected ballots at the request of Republicans.

Rossi trails Gregoire, the state attorney general, by a tiny fraction of 1 percent, and the state GOP wants counties to take another look at ballots that the party contends may have been improperly counted or left out. The party also is doing the groundwork for a possible election “contest.”

Rossi has been under pressure to fight on, although some backers have worried about damage from a “sore-loser” image. Spokeswoman Mary Lane said Rossi’s campaign office was being flooded with e-mails and calls from people who don’t want him to give up.

The final 129-vote margin is one fewer than announced at the end of the hand recount last week. One vote for Gregoire was subtracted from Thurston County’s tally because it had been added after the county’s initial certification, Handy said.

After certification, “the window opens” for contesting the election in the courts, he said.

The election can be challenged until Jan. 22, 10 days after the Legislature issues the certificate of election and the new governor is inaugurated, Handy said in an interview.

Rossi, the former state Senate budget chairman from the Seattle suburb of Sammamish, won the original count by 261 votes out of 2.8 million votes. That tiny margin triggered an automatic machine recount, which he also won, by 42 votes.Both Gregoire and Rossi have maintained transition offices, appointing teams to work on a state budget, cabinet appointments and an agenda for the upcoming Legislature.

The new governor will be sworn in Jan.12. Republicans have until January 20th to contest the election in court.