|
|
"A comprehensive, collaborative elections resource."
|
[John Carlson:] Note to Gregoire: Concede already
|
|---|
| Parent(s) |
Candidate
|
| Contributor | Ralphie |
| Last Edited | Ralphie Dec 02, 2004 04:11pm |
| Logged |
0
|
| Category | Opinion |
| Media | Newspaper - Seattle Post-Intelligencer |
| News Date | Thursday, December 2, 2004 06:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | What's the difference between Christine Gregoire and me?
I lost one count for governor. Gregoire has now lost two.
Yes, it was close -- a photo finish. But it was not, as she is telling people, a tie. Dino Rossi won it fairly, he won it squarely and he won it twice. Yet Gregoire is calling for a third count done by hand because she wants "accuracy."
Actually, she wants 43 votes. And a hand count is easier to get there, because hand counts are less accurate than machines. Those who understand the process of running an election, including our two previous secretaries of state, agree with Democrat Dean Logan, the head of King County's elections office, who said, "When you're talking about close to 900,000 pieces of paper, I think the machine count is going to be more accurate than a manual count." By the way, though no one's saying it out loud, it's also easier to cheat with hand counts.
More than a political race is at stake here. Washington long has been known as a clean place in which to do politics, but that reputation evaporates if Rossi becomes the only candidate in state history (and one of the only ones in U.S. history) to win an election on the first count, win it again on the second and then be denied the oath of office by a third count that used a less reliable method for counting the ballots.
The anger would extend far beyond the Republican Party. A KING-5 poll shows that 66 percent of the people believe Rossi is the winner. Only 24 percent -- less than the Democrat base vote in Washington -- believe Gregoire won the race. Even some newspapers that endorsed her are now calling on her to put the state's interests ahead of her own and concede the race. |
| Share |
|
|
2¢
|
|
| Article | Read Full Article |
|
| Date |
Category |
Headline |
Article |
Contributor |
|
|
