Voters glad their ballots finally will count

By LEWIS KAMB
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Weeks ago, they -- like hundreds of thousands of other Washington residents -- exercised their right to vote, filling out their choices for office on absentee ballots received from their county elections office.

Residents such as Brian Ecker, a 26-year-old Seattle software developer; and Bill Josie, 73, a lifelong dairy farmer in Enumclaw. When they returned their ballots to elections officials, they thought they'd fulfilled their civic duty.

And they thought that their votes would count.

But they wouldn't -- at least not until yesterday, when the state Supreme Court ruled that finally, 50 days after Election Day, ballots cast by Ecker, Josie and more than 700 other King County residents could be tallied in the extraordinary recount of the Washington governor's election.

After learning that his vote would finally be counted, Ecker described his feelings yesterday simply: "Relief," he said. "Overwhelming relief."

More...