Rossi calls for election do-over; Democrats call idea ‘laughable’

OLYMPIA – Saying the Washington governor’s race has been irreparably flawed, Republican Dino Rossi called for an unprecedented statewide revote Wednesday night.

“Quite frankly, folks, this election has been a total mess,” Rossi told reporters at his Bellevue campaign headquarters. Without a do-over, he said, many people will never view the election as legitimate.

“People need to know for sure that the next governor actually won the election,” he said.

Rossi won the first two tallies of the Nov. 2 ballots, narrowly beating three-term attorney general Christine Gregoire, a Democrat.

But after a weeks-long third count, Gregoire ended ahead by 129 votes. She’ll be declared governor-elect today, when the state certifies the results of that third count.

Gregoire will not agree to a revote, spokesman Morton Brilliant said.

“This isn’t golf. No mulligans allowed,” he said. “It’s understandable that he is upset. It’s not easy to lose an election. But that’s no excuse to spend $4 million of taxpayer money on a new election.”

Gregoire is slated to be sworn in Jan. 12, but Rossi has until Jan. 20 to contest the election in court or before the state Legislature. That process, he said, could take weeks or months.

For days, Republicans have been saying the election was fouled up by changing ballot-counting standards in King County, by the failure to get ballots to military members overseas in time, and by the inherent inaccuracy of hand-counting nearly 2.9 million ballots.

“We’re now in a situation where nobody really knows who won this election,” Rossi said. The blur of challenges and accusations during the counting, he said, makes it impossible for either him or Gregoire to take office Jan. 12 “without being shrouded in suspicion.”

The head of the state Democratic Party called Rossi’s idea “laughable.”

“That’s just a ridiculous idea,” Chairman Paul Berendt said. “It feels to me that they’re grasping at straws.”

All the issues raised during the eight-week, three-count election, he said, have been settled by the state Supreme Court and county election canvassing boards.

“I think people are ready for this election to be over,” Berendt said.

The race is believed to be the closest of its size in American history. Gregoire received 1,373,361 votes. Rossi got 1,373,232. A third candidate, Libertarian Ruth Bennett, received 63,465.

Spokesman-Review readers who responded to an e-mail request seeking comments were split over whether Rossi should continue the fight.

“There are way too many irregularities in King County that need to be cleared up,” said Rosalie Dahlvang, of Spokane Valley, who supports the idea of a revote.

Cheney’s Mike McKeehan said Republicans shouldn’t try to contest the election in court.

“The electoral process has been followed according to law: count, machine recount and hand recount,” he said. “Each step has been carefully watched. To fight the issue in courts undermines the electoral process.”

Okanogan’s William Slusher disagrees.

“The Republicans should fight the third recount as far as legally possible,” Slusher said. “Obviously the Democrats were prepared to do the same, and lawsuit hell is what a state should get when it runs so shoddy an election as the ‘04 governor’s has been.”

Chattaroy’s Wayne Storlie joked about the idea of “rock, paper, scissors” to decide the race. But he likes the idea of a revote.

“Now that everyone knows how close the race is, more people will show up at the polls just to end this,” he said.

“Rossi has got a lot of nerve even thinking about taking this mess to court after the stinging criticism he gave Gregoire for wanting a recount,” said Spokane’s Pam Poindexter. ” … I just want the whole thing over with – now.”