Washington can’t afford another vote like this

THE NEWS TRIBUNE
Last updated: December 19th, 2004 02:40 AM

Dismaying as they are, irregularities in the gubernatorial election don’t justify discarding properly cast ballots.

Of the many strange twists and turns in the 2004 governor’s race, Friday’s court decision ranks among the bigger surprises.

State Republican officials had asked Pierce County Superior Court Judge Stephanie Arend to bar King County from counting 723 absentee ballots that might well have given Democrat Christine Gregoire the keys to the governor’s mansion. Most of the ballots came from predominantly Democratic precincts; they seemed almost certain to overcome Republican Dino Rossi’s incredibly narrow lead, which now stands at 50 votes.

Arend agreed with the Republicans, concluding that a month-and-a-half after the election is just too late to be deciding whether previously uncounted ballots should included in the final tally.

The News Tribune’s editorial board endorsed Rossi, but we believe those ballots should be counted. Cast in good faith by registered voters, they were set aside by King County election workers who couldn’t find the voters’ signatures on file in the computer system.

This was the fault of the county, not the citizens: When they registered to vote, they provided their signatures. The election staff should have verified the signatures by looking them up in the election department’s paper records. That didn’t happen. Unfortunately, the mistake did not come to light until this past week – much, much later than it should have.

Although we support Rossi, we do not want Washington’s next governor to be elected through the suppression of properly cast votes. If the law permits it, Arend’s decision ought to be overturned on appeal.

But the real problem is not Arend, who may turn out to be right on the law. It is the series of irregularities in the vote count – especially in King County – that have cast a deepening shadow on this preternaturally close election. For example, 150 of those 723 uncounted ballots were not discovered until two days ago. They were found in a warehouse in south Seattle; election workers had somehow overlooked them.

Imagine, for a moment, that those 723 ballots had been properly verified and included in the original vote count. That could have changed the whole complexion of the election. Gregoire might well have been declared governor-elect instead of Rossi. Far less controversy would have surrounded the present recount.

If only. Now – if Arend’s decision stands – Democrats will view Rossi as a candidate who won by challenging valid votes. If Gregoire ultimately prevails, many Republicans will suspect election fraud in King County’s Democratic administration. There’s no actual evidence of vote-tampering in King County – but in politics, perceptions count.

The situation has gotten so snarled that the normally sensible Ralph Munro, Washington’s retired secretary of state, suggested last week that the whole gubernatorial election should be done over again.

That would be an extreme remedy indeed. But Munro is right on one point: This election has been tainted by a string of irregularities, and whoever wins is likely to be politically wounded when he or she takes office.

That’s not enough reason to hold a new election. But it’s plenty reason to do whatever it takes in the future, in King County and elsewhere, to make sure irregularities don’t do this much damage to the next close election.