Reply #41: The WA Gov. campaign's over; the law must rule now [View All]

[dzika]

Published: Friday, December 31, 2004

Editorials

The campaign's over; the law must rule now



Technically, the closest gubernatorial election in state history ended Thursday when Democrat Christine Gregoire was certified as the winner.

The campaigning, unfortunately, raged on.

Republican Dino Rossi, one day after calling for a revote, tried to win support for that idea by trotting out a Snohomish County couple who said their son, a soldier who was wounded in Iraq, was disenfranchised because he didn't receive his absentee ballot until the day after the election.

-snip-

Rossi also said that a legal challenge would take too long. Well, think of the timing required for a new vote. Counties have 45 days to print and distribute ballots, meaning an election probably couldn't take place before early March. Even barring challenges to that vote, a new governor wouldn't take office until the legislative session was halfway over.

Rossi further claims that the state Supreme Court changed the rules by allowing King County to correct an error made by election officials that allowed several hundred ballots to be added to the manual count. But Republican Secretary of State Sam Reed, a beacon of fairness and nonpartisanship throughout this ordeal, disagrees. After he certified Gregoire as the winner Thursday, Reed advised Rossi to seek relief in the courts, as provided by law, if he feels the result is flawed.

Rossi, who received this editorial board's endorsement, should take that advice. If he has a legal case to make, he should do so. But the time for campaigning has passed.


Link:
http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/04/12/31/100edi_editorial001.cfm