Although Grant County hasn't reported its results yet -- and probably won't until Tuesday -- County Auditor Bill Varney says that 52 more ballots have turned up than in either of the earlier machine counts.

How'd that happen? Nobody's quite sure. They were apparently absentee ballots, and were spread out among three quarters of the county's precincts.

"A small group of those must have somehow bypassed the counting machine," Varney said Tuesday. "That's why you have recounts."

But it doesn't look like the results will change much -- the results from the 52 ballots mirrored the percentages each candidate got in the first two counts, he said.

Such discrepancies are turning up in many counties. Kitsap County, which reported results late last night, had 72 extra votes for Gregoire, 82 for Rossi and 7 for Bennett.

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