King County has finished tabulating the up to 735 mistakenly rejected votes. Christine Gregoire's vote margin has grown by 123 additional votes and her vote margin is now 133.
Today's count did not come without some initial Republican party efforts to muddy the waters. Before the King County Canvassing Board met this morning, the Republican party submitted 91 affidavits from persons, many military, claiming that the voted for Mr. Rossi but that their votes were rejected. The canvassing board refused to count these votes, saying that these came in after the deadline, and there was no reason to treat them differently from any other votes coming in after the deadline.
[UPDATE -- Lahdee's got the numbers.] King County announces 5 additional votes. The margin is now +133 Gregoire.
The response of the Rossi campaign and the Republican party has been to accuse the state supreme court of "changing the rules" and to request that all rejected votes in every other county be re-examined.
The "changing the rules" argument is utterly bankrupt, and it is pathetically unsurprising that the Republicans are using it. They are generating some public support among their faithful with it. I would love to see somebody in the Rossi camp try to defend that in a fair debate, but it won't happen.
The second argument, recanvassing, is not going to fly. The rules do not allow rejected votes to be re-examined after a recount has been completed.
The only option the Republicans have left now is to challenge the election, unless Secretary of State Sam Reed decides not to certify the election and calls for a revote. This is unprecedented in Washington, but the Republicans are pushing for this in their media blitz as well.
Props to Sam Reed for doing his job without fear or favor.