We finally have one stage of resolution in the Washington governor's race and its not the
one I was looking for:
Republican Dino Rossi's tiny lead over Democrat Christine Gregoire in the closest governor's race in Washington state history triggered an automatic recount Wednesday.
Rossi held a 261-vote lead - out of 2.8 million ballots cast - after counties reported their final tallies to the state.
"Making history isn't easy," Rossi said, flashing a wide smile as he spoke to reporters outside his Bellevue campaign headquarters Wednesday night.
So the automatic recount is in play. What else is in play? Watch for the republican mob to be monitoring the recount very carefully.
This is the text of a letter, Paul Berendt (WA St Dem Chair) sent to Dean Logan of King County last week. The freepers are all over local wingnut radio alleging fraud on the part of King County and the Democrats.
November 11, 2004
Dean Logan
Director
King County Records, Elections & Licensing Services Division
King County Admin. Bldg., #553
500 4th Avenue
Seattle, WA 98104
Dear Dean,
I am writing you today to share with you my concerns about Republican
efforts to skew the election results in King County through harassment
and intimidation of elections workers.
We have documented abuses as follows:
_
_Saturday Nov. 6: _
Up to a dozen Republican observers harassed King County Elections staff
who were working on signature matching. Harassing activities included:
* Crowding in groups of five behind a single election worker
* Going to out-of-bounds areas to look at computer screens
* Questioning each signature match a worker made
* Repeatedly asking election supervisors to reject ballots when the
signature match had been approved by elections staff
* Watching elections workers through binoculars
Elections officials told observers not to watch computer screens
closely
because they displayed non-public information.
_Sunday, Nov. 7:
Approximately ten Republican observers were present, and continued to
try to view election staff computer screens. They continued to
question
signature match decisions.
Monday Nov. 8:
Throughout the day, Republican observers were present in large numbers.
Elections supervisors told two aggressive Republican observers not to
look at computer screens because they contained non-public information.
They were warned that being close enough to the screens to question
signature matches meant they were out of bounds and committing a crime.
Another Republican observer targeted an African American election
worker, staring at the worker's screen and standing close to him in an
intimidating way.
Immediately after many elections supervisors left for the day, a group
of eight Republican observers escalated the harassment by crowding
around workers and physically intimidating them.
*Tuesday, Nov. 9: *
An aggressive Republican observer continued to intimidate workers and
get in the way and refused to modify his behavior when asked by
elections staff. * *In response, a King County Sheriff's deputy has
been
assigned to watch over the observers at the signature-matching area.
In light of the incidents documented here, I hope you redouble your
efforts to be sure that none of your staff is intimidated.
* *
Thank you for your swift attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Paul Berendt
Chair, Washington State Democrats