Gregoire gains 4 in Island County

When the margin is .0015 percent, four votes make a difference. That is exactly how many votes Democrat Christine Gregoire gained over Republican Dino Rossi after Island County finished the second recount in Washington’s gubernatorial race this week.

The Island County Canvassing Board certified the county’s results Monday morning. The total turnout climbed by six votes to 39,076. Gregoire gained seven votes and Rossi gained three.

With 24 counties reporting, Gregoire has lost ground to Rossi. Rossi has gained 190 votes and Gregoire has gained 144.

Island County Auditor Suzanne Sinclair said she didn’t know where the extra votes came from, but guessed it was from machine error. The same with the four-vote difference, she said.

“We didn’t make them up here, I promise,” she said.

Island County Democrats chairwoman Grethe Cammermeyer said if each of the 26 counties Gregoire lead in found four more votes, that would be more than enough to surpass Rossi.

“If we end up having an honest election where people’s votes are counted, then that’s one we can live with,” she said. “To bemoan the fact that there’s a second recount does a disservice to the process.”

Cammermeyer said the second recount was necessary because mistakes were made during the first, a machine recount.

Island County Republican Chair Andy Valrosa said that the hand recount might not be necessary in the future.

“(This recount) was necessary because the law allows for it, but if Gregoire didn’t want to put the state through it, then it was unnecessary,” he said.

This is the first time in state history that a hand recount has been requested.

Teams of two, with two observers each, began processing ballots Thursday morning and finished Monday, Sinclair said.

“We’ve never done this before, so it’s hard to know how fast people can count,” she said.

Boxes containing some of the 39,070 ballots appeared around 8 a.m. for the teams of counters. Seals were compared and ballots distributed by precinct. Counters separated the ballots into five separate piles: Gregoire, Rossi, Libertarian Ruth Bennett, those with no vote, and “overvotes” — ballots with more than one person picked. Overvotes are thrown out, Sinclair said.

“We can’t count those because, obviously, you can’t discern the voter’s intent,” she said.

Other ballots had already been taken out because the signatures did not match those on file, or were postmarked after election day. Some people who cast a ballot had yet to register, Sinclair said.

Observers — one Democrat and one Republican — kept a firm eye as the ballots fluttered about, landing in their respective piles. Then it was time to count. Each counter tallied the votes once, and if the totals match, that precinct is finished.

Each person was looking for some anomaly, a hanging chad, a dimpled chad or any other type of chad that could be contested. One such ballot was found. A voter had tried to punch out his or her vote, but only half succeeded, resulting in that ballot facing trial in front of Island County’s canvassing board.

“Our goal is to make it like watching grass grow,” Sinclair said. “And, it appears that we are doing that. We haven’t had anything bizarre happen.”

The Island County Canvassing Board met Friday to analyze the questionable ballots. Sinclair said two types of ballots were questioned; those the counters could not decide who the vote was for, and those the observers had an issue with. All told, 23 ballots went to the board.

A Washington Supreme Court case heard Monday will have little or no impact on Island County’s results, Sinclair said. Only one or two ballots could be affected by the case, she said.

Observers were impressed by the efficacy with which the elections staff handled the recount. Seattle attorney Becky Roe, who was representing the Democrats, said she left early because she was not needed.

“It looks like their doing a great job,” she said. “A lot of it is coming to get clear in my mind what they’re doing.”

Democrats called for the hand recount after Gregoire gained ground on Rossi in a machine recount at the end of November. Sinclair said she will be keeping an eye out for significant changes in vote totals, but problems other counties have faced will be avoided here.

The Democrats were able to call for the recount after giving a $730,000 deposit to the state to cover the cost of the recount. At 25 cents per vote, the recount should cost approximately $9,700 in Island County. If the results swing in favor of Gregoire, the county must foot the bill.

In an effort to smooth any future recounts, the county will have a different voting system in place before Jan. 1, 2006.

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