Washington 2004

[Brittain33]

Why do some Republicans seem to take it as given that this race was stolen? Is it just that any recount that flips the result is considered unfair, or was there actual fraud committed?

[Alcon]

2004, right?

Long story, and I don't have much time.  Essentially King County found a lot of ballots.  There's no reason to believe they were fraudulent, but it was widely viewed as a screw-up.  We also had a lot of felons who voted.  That happens in a lot of states, but it mattered when it was close.  On the more "ugh you idiot" side of things, they counted a bunch of fatal pend ballots.

Was it a concerted attempt to steal an election?  No.  Was there gross incompetence?  Yes.  Was that more-than-most-states gross incompetence?  Possibly.  Did it change the election outcome?  Possibly, maybe even likely.

[Keystone Phil]

"Oh, look, Christine! Here are some votes that just happen to be in somebody's garage. We better get these counted!"

[bgwah]

^ Larry Phillips is a Democrat.

Anyway, the losing side in a close election claims it was stolen. What else is new?

[Alcon]

^ Larry Phillips is a Democrat.

ahh, ok, somehow i was thinking it was reagan dunn.  Doesn't really matter though.  They were ballot stubs for people who obviously did vote.  It wasn't fraud, just dumb.

[Keystone Phil]

"Oh, look, Christine! Here are some votes that just happen to be in somebody's garage. We better get these counted!"

They did actually release a list of which voters those voters were attributed to -- they included at least one Republican King County councilman.  There really wasn't any question that they weren't real votes, and hadn't been counted previously.  But it sure as hell looked bad, and displayed major incompetence.

(My county was actually, on a ballots per capita basis, worse.)

Typical Gregoire supporter

[CultureKing]

"Oh, look, Christine! Here are some votes that just happen to be in somebody's garage. We better get these counted!"

They did actually release a list of which voters those voters were attributed to -- they included at least one Republican King County councilman.  There really wasn't any question that they weren't real votes, and hadn't been counted previously.  But it sure as hell looked bad, and displayed major incompetence.

(My county was actually, on a ballots per capita basis, worse.)

Typical Gregoire supporter

Unlike 2000 there were no voting irregularities and the recount was conducted and finished in accordance with the law. Rossi made a few legal challenges but was rebuffed by conservative judges and in a unanimous decision by the state supreme court. It was overseen by a republican Secretary of State who did a great job of being impartial, overall it was handled well at the state level, it was due to the incompetance of lower level workers that problems arose but in the end things were handled as they should have been.

[Keystone Phil]

"Oh, look, Christine! Here are some votes that just happen to be in somebody's garage. We better get these counted!"

They did actually release a list of which voters those voters were attributed to -- they included at least one Republican King County councilman.  There really wasn't any question that they weren't real votes, and hadn't been counted previously.  But it sure as hell looked bad, and displayed major incompetence.

(My county was actually, on a ballots per capita basis, worse.)

Typical Gregoire supporter

Unlike 2000 there were no voting irregularities

I don't even know what to think of this...

[ottermax]

Interestingly, WA voters didn't really care much about the "stolen" election and voted for Gregoire again anyways...