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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Olympia

Two elections, apparently…

It's now as if there were two elections for governor (not counts, of which there were three, but two actual elections).

Here's what we mean: Democrats, Secretary of State Sam Reed and apparently most state auditors describe an election with a few minor errors, but no fraud and no problems serious enough to merit a re-vote. Gov.-Elect Christine Gregoire, in a note to supporters, on Wednesday called it "the most accurate election in state history."

"We have just finished the longest, most-scrutinized election in Washington State history," she wrote. "Ballots have been checked, double-checked and triple-checked."

Republicans, on the other hand, describe the race as a colossal, un-fixable "mess." The Republican view of the voting has "hundreds and hundreds" of provisional ballots being illegally counted, military voters being shut out while other ballots are allowed to count, and, GOP chair Chris Vance says, instances of voting by felons and the deceased. Republicans are planning a rally to push for a revote on Tuesday in Olympia.

These two competing visions of the election will clash at noon Tuesday in the House of Representatives, where Republicans are expected to demand a revote and Democrats -- who hold a majority of votes in both the House and Senate -- will try to slap the motion down.



Short takes and breaking news from the Washington Legislature and the state capital.