As one or two dairists may have mentioned in passing, all aspects of the 2004 election are not over and done with.
In WA:
Never in Washington state has a governor's race been so close.
Only 261 votes separated the two candidates after a painstaking tally that triggered an automatic recount, required whenever the margin of victory is fewer than 2,000 ballots.
For the time being, Republican Dino Rossi is out in front of Democrat Christine Gregoire. They should know by next Wednesday -- so says Secretary of State Sam Reed -- who will replace outgoing Democratic Gov. Gary Locke.
A statewide recount has never reversed the outcome of an election, but Reed isn't saying that won't happen after the 2.8 million ballots are tallied -- again.
In NM:
It took two weeks-- and it's still unofficial-- but New Mexico's 33 counties have completed their vote-counting from the Nov. 2 election.
President Bush is still the winner, although that won't be certified until the state canvass in another week.
Meanwhile, contrary to some popular impressions, New Mexico isn't bringing up the rear in the count.
Ballots were still being tallied Tuesday in Ohio and Washington and recounts were under way in other states with close races. Colorado was still counting provisional ballots on Monday.
"Whenever it's close everybody wants to know immediately," said state Bureau of Elections Director Denise Lamb. "... And there is that pesky little law that tells us that we count every vote."
That's something we can all agree on, a non-partisan bedrock concept. And there's more.
In LA, there are two outstanding runoff seats to be decided in LA-3 and LA-7. Louisiana politics can be bruising. In LA-7, the third place Dem Don Cravins is angry with the second place winner Willie Mount who challenges the Repub Boustany in an election on 12/4. In LA-3, the repub is the son of Billy Tauzin, Dem-turned-Repub ex-congresscritter.
"Collette Vizier, a member of the state's central committee, announced today that she would step down as deputy director of Louisiana's Republican Party in protest of the [party] endorsement [of Tauzin].
"Vizier resigned from the state executive committee because she thought the party had deserted her. She did not resign from the central committee itself.
"'I would rather jump from a bridge and commit suicide than vote for Billy Tauzin,' Vizier told The Hill. 'So I'm jumping from a bridge and committing political suicide.'"
BTW, anyone wanting to volunteer to help keep these seats away from Tom DeLay and in Dem hands can do so here through the D-trip.
Coming up are recounts to watch carefully as well at the Presidential level in NH and OH. Glitches, irregularities, etc. need to be followed and fixed so as to make sure every vote does get counted and counted properly. This will be a major issue going forward and not likely one settled now. Add to this list the suspicion of voter supression and sheer inconvenience/incompetence as chronicled here by first-hand anecdotes. At the least, making sure enough machines are in place to cut down waiting time in heavily populated districts (as well as travel inconvenience) should also be a non-partisan issue. This will not change the election results, but that's not the point of reform.