Revote in Washington Governor’s Race?
James Joyner
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Monday, January 10, 2005
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8 comments
John Fund has a provocative piece in today’s WSJ entitled, “Don’t Count Rossi Out – A stolen election in Washington state? Not if bloggers can help it. ”
The new media–talk radio, bloggers and independent watchdog groups–have followed up their success in exposing Dan Rather’s use of phony memos by showcasing another scandal: Washington state’s bizarre race for governor, which features a vote count so close and compromised it allows Florida to retire the crown for electoral incompetence. If Democrat Christine Gregoire, who leads by 129 votes and is scheduled to take the office Wednesday, eventually has to face a new election, it will have been in large part because of the new media’s ability to give the story altitude before it reached the courts.
When the idea of a revote was first broached three weeks ago by a moderate Republican former secretary of state, Ms. Gregoire’s reaction was swift: “Absolutely ludicrous.” With Republican candidate Dino Rossi filing a formal court challenge last Friday alleging a massive breakdown in the vote count, she may still think the idea of a court-ordered revote is laughable, but her legal team is taking it seriously. “There’s not even a 50-50 chance a court would rule with Republicans to set aside the election,” says Jenny Durkan, a Gregoire confidant who is representing state Democrats. Hardly an expression of supreme confidence.
The feeling that a revote is possible is buoyed by polls showing the public still thinks Mr. Rossi, who won the first two vote counts before falling behind in the third, actually won. His legal team has also compiled a strong body of evidence showing irregularities, certainly one far more detailed than that which North Carolina officials used last week to order a statewide March revote of the race for agriculture commissioner after a computer ate 4,438 ballots in a GOP-leaning county. Without those votes, the GOP candidate was leading by 2,287 votes out of 3.5 million cast.
Fund’s analysis is interesting but I can’t imagine that a revote is going to happen. The state supreme court is clearly bending over backwards to give the election to Gregoire and the Democrats control the state legislature, the other avenue for overturning the results. Unless the GOP can figure out a way to force equal counting of dubious ballots in their own counties, Gregoire will get away with stealing the election.
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Campaign 2004
Revote in Washington Governors Race?
James Joyner
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Monday, December 20, 2004
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14 comments
John Fund poses the question, “Ukraine gets to revote. Why can’t Washington state?”
There is no provision in Washington state law for holding a new election. It would have to be ordered by the state Supreme Court or by a special session of the legislature. But now is the time to raise the issue because no one knows for sure which candidate will come out ahead this week in the final count. Sam Reed, the state’s secretary of state, says a rerun of the election is eminently doable and notes that a small town in Washington did rerun an election after it was discovered that some people who were ineligible had been allowed to cast ballots.
There is also a precedent for a statewide rerun of an election in recent times. In 1974, New Hampshire Democrat John Durkin ran for the U.S. Senate and very narrowly lost. A recount overturned the original result and gave Mr. Durkin a 10-vote lead over Republican Louis Wyman. But then the state’s Ballot Law Commission recounted the ballots and certified Mr. Wyman the winner by two votes. Mr. Durkin had no real evidence of fraud, but he contested the election anyway. The Democratic-controlled Senate sided with him and refused to honor the state’s certification. The seat remained vacant for seven months. The debate spanned 100 hours over a month with 35 inconclusive roll-call votes. The 1975 impasse ended only when Mr. Durkin agreed to a special election. He won that race, but then lost a bid for a second term in 1980.
If leaders of both parties could agree that the November election has been hopelessly compromised, public pressure for a clarifying rematch would build. It would be highly irregular, but so too is the fact that whoever wins the third count of votes would govern under a cloud in which their legitimacy would be questioned.
Aside from the question of whether a do-over is fair under the existing rules of the game, why would a revote be any less prone to manipulation and nonsense than the first one?
Fund is right about this one, though:
Let’s hope the public will also demand a thorough housecleaning of Washington state’s election laws, which imprudently allow 65% of its voters to cast troublesome absentee ballots.
Washington state’s predicament is also a warning flare for the rest of the country about how sloppy our election procedures still are. In most states we are just as unable to handle a photo-finish election as we were when the Bush v. Gore legal fight occurred in 2000; It’s time to redouble our efforts to make our elections something the rest of the world can’t snicker at.
Widespread absentee voting and such things as Motor Voter, which allows people to register to vote without establishing their identity, create a system ripe with opportunities for fraud. Given the litigious nature of modern American society, this means no close election in a meaningful race will ever be without taint. The loser will always go to court to overturn the results and/or claim the election was stolen.
Sadly, there is no easy way out of this mess.
Rip & Read Blogger Podcast for January 10, 2005
Here’s what I ripped and read today:
James Joyner at Outside the Beltway is less confident the Democrats will allow a revote:
Fund’s analysis is interesting but I can’t imagine that a revote is going to happen. The state supreme court is c…
It is regrettable that the Democrats appear to have stolen the Washington election. But it would not have happen had the race not been extremely close — a virtual tie.
I think the Republicans would do much better to devote their energies to making sure it is not close next time.
Kent is right, the Republicans have no one to blame but themselves. We have to expect that close races will have a certain amount of fraud and errors. We just have to get more people to vote for us next time. It is wrong to blame these errors for our failure to prevail. There’s a saying that you shouldn’t measure with a micrometer that which you cut with an axe, or something like that.
Listen to my podcast for more info.
Stories du jour
…Several blogs, including Outside the Beltway, California Yankee, and Professor Bainbridge, have been following the governor’s election in Washington. Once again, I find myself siding with the good Professor…
revote
It is a perfect example of a weak candidate executing a stance based on politics of convenience. When behind, there was her incessant chanting of “count every vote”, now when recounted twice to be ahead and using courts to change the election, this stance seems to have lost her backing. Regardless, she’ll reap what she sews in the form of a term shrouded in illegitimacy.
I think this state should have a re-vote. Dino Rossi won 2 out of 3 vote counts and Gregoire only won once. Plus there were more ballots counted than voters.
The only solution to all this is a RE-VOTE.
Some people say the election is a done deal. Others say there should be a re-vote. With all the evidence I have gathered from my research, I think there should be a re-vote. Some people did not recieve their ballots until the day after the election.
I agree with Nicole Kelly. Dino Rossi did win 2 out of 3 vote counts. Also they found more uncounted ballots.
All the dispute and disagreement can be solved if more accurate results come out. That means a RE-VOTE.