Rossi’s edge boosted by 55 votes

Republican Dino Rossi secured a net increase of 13 votes in Spokane County as exhausted election officials finished their recount Tuesday in the closest governor’s race in state history. Statewide, Rossi added 55 votes to his lead over Democrat Christine Gregoire,

The Spokane recount added 255 votes to the county’s totals, after election workers reviewed ballots that had marks too faint or inconclusive for new optical scanning machines to read. In the recount, Rossi picked up 134 votes in Spokane County. Gregoire tallied an additional 121 votes. In the past four days, county election workers counted 203,878 ballots – six more than the original tally.

“Not everything runs perfectly all the time,” said county Auditor Vicky Dalton. “But overall, we had very little in the way of human error or computer mistakes.”

Earlier this month, Rossi, 45, won the governor’s race by just 261 votes. The small margin of error triggered an automatic recount.

Now the statewide recount of nearly 2.8 million votes hinges on a handful of counties. A recount has never overturned the results of a statewide race in Washington.

Still recounting Tuesday were King, Kitsap and Whitman counties.

Gregoire, 57, the three-term state attorney general, held out hope that the recount in King County, the state’s largest county and her stronghold, would boost her into the lead today.

More than 700 previously uncounted ballots were added to King County’s total after election workers, under the close watch of party observers, “enhanced” ballots to reflect the voters’ intent. An example would be a ballot on which a voter circled the candidate’s name, rather than filling in the oval for the optical scanner machine to read.

Gregoire carried eight of the state’s 39 counties in the original count, with her strong King County showing offsetting Rossi’s strength elsewhere.

Snohomish County found a previously unrecorded 224 votes, state Democratic Party Chairman Paul Berendt said Tuesday. Grant found 66 new ballots, and Cowlitz County subtracted 69 votes, he said.

Many of the counties reported changes of between zero and three votes. Pierce, though, added 261 votes to Rossi’s column and 242 to Gregoire. Snohomish added 130 for Rossi and 131 for Gregoire. Adams, Cowlitz, Grant, Kittitas, Skagit and Walla Walla also reported double-digit changes.

The Spokane County Canvassing Board certified its recount numbers Tuesday before observers from the Republican and Democratic parties. County Commissioner Phil Harris read a statement for Dalton, whose voice was hoarse from illness.

At the county elections office – a low-slung converted warehouse in north Spokane – two dozen election workers fed ballots into 95 tabulating machines throughout the weekend. Dalton estimated the recount cost the county about $10,000, mostly in salaries and overtime wages. “Even though it may be costly, a recount process is one of the few times we get to check our quality control procedures,” Dalton said.

County officials will wait to hear whether the recount results will be challenged by one of the political parties. Either party may challenge the recount – if they are willing to pay for a costly hand recount. Election officials say that bill could come to $20,000 in Spokane County and $700,000 statewide.

However, if the results of the hand recount overturn the outcome, the counties must pay the bill, Dalton said.

Representatives from both the Republican and Democratic parties praised Spokane County’s recount.

“I was quite impressed by the process,” said Mary Pat Laushot, chairwoman of the county’s Democratic Party. “I thought they did an excellent job.”

Robin Ball, chairwoman of the county Republican Party, agreed. “I think the recount went as smoothly as humanly possible,” Ball said.