Recount in governor’s race looking likely

OLYMPIA – With the two top candidates for governor often separated by a margin of just a few hundredths of a percent in recent days, a recount looks more and more likely.

County election departments throughout the state have until the end of today to count all their ballots. Once that dust settles, if the margin of victory is less than half a percent and 2,000 votes, state law requires a mandatory “machine recount.”

How long would that take?

Secretary of State Sam Reed says that he would give the order to recount today, but state law requires the counties to also give the political parties two days’ notice. King County – by far the state’s largest – would likely start counting on Saturday. Most of the rest would start on Monday. Reed’s office estimates that all the counting would be finished by Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving.

Would the ballots have to be recounted by hand?

If the race ends really close today – fewer than 150 votes out of 2.8 million cast – state law requires a manual recount, rather than a simpler machine recount in which the same ballots are simply run through the counting machines again. But the two parties are also allowed to negotiate an alternative to a time-consuming hand recount.

Have statewide recounts in Washington reversed elections in the past?

No. No statewide race has ever been changed by a recount.

But for reasons that are unclear – and may just be coincidence – Washington recounts in recent years have favored Democrats.

For example: In 2000, a recount gained Democrat Maria Cantwell 177 votes in her race for Senate. Sen. Slade Gorton lost 99 votes. The same year, in the race for Secretary of State, Democrat Don Bonker picked up 95 votes in a recount; Republican Sam Reed lost 172.

Can a party or candidate request a recall, even if the race isn’t close enough to require one?

Yes. Such a request can only be made after Dec., 2, however, and whoever requests it must pay at least $420,000 for a machine recount or $700,000 for a hand recount. (If the works costs more, the requestor must cough up more money.)

But if that recount changes the result of the election, the money is refunded.