The One's coattails were insurmountable. Story and video here.

Keep on keeping on Dino. What you do does assist this state to be more accountable.

God Bless you Dino.

As of 1 AM Pacific Time.

He'll need huge improvement in absentee ballots to overcome this.

Rossi rightly refuses to concede.

Only about half the WA state votes have been counted - we have a long history of absentee ballots changing elections.

Then, of course, we have 2004.

Re-elect Dino Rossi...

All the national networks have called the gubernatorial race here in WA.

The local news channels refuse to do so.

This with 0 votes counted out of Pierce County - and an untold amount of absentee ballots yet to be counted.

We'll see.

At this moment it's 628,495 Gregoire, 591,178 Rossi. That means that half of the votes have been counted.

It's 8:29 PM, most eastern counties not reporting - King County has not reported anything at all yet.

Snohomish County (just north of King County) highest reporting so far - substantially for Gregoire (and Obama).

Obama has pulled of the deception of all time. Only time will tell.

Let's see if Rossi can get re-elected...

We're about to be back at it again. Can't quite believe it has been so long - and so soon...

From early voting turnout looks like the non King County contingent is turning out very strong - which is good for Mr. Rossi...

Fingers crossed.

Most of us in Washington State continue to reel at the fraud and negligence that characterized our election here last November.

Shark Sharkansky at Sound Politics has continued on with dogged determination - he's continued to execute FOIA requests (or their equivalent at the County level) - and has continued to expose the staggering corruption in King County. Just yesterday he discovered by physical inspection dozens more additional absentee ballots - many of them from members of the armed services - that were not counted in last November's election!

A week ago, working with Bob Edelmen of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, Shark discovered and reported that the current set of King County absentee ballots (that we're going to vote in the upcoming local election) are in violation of state law - having to do with mail forwarding.

These things continue to remind us of the horrid conditions that our election system remains in - but I have something to share that's a bit more, well, Heinlenian.

I just received my absentee ballot and my local voters pamphlet - we've got this local King County election coming up September 20th. Among the offices to be filled is that of King County Executive - for which the election department works - so you can imagine that it is important to many of us.

I'm pretty sure that we have been transported to some strange planet, because this is the front page of the voter's pamphlet:

You really can't make this stuff up folks. I think this is the most condescending piece of crap information I have ever seen in the voting process.

Seattle Times' opening paragraph for this story:

King County Executive Ron Sims has temporarily reassigned two veteran managers to help run this fall's elections and will seek $500,000 to pay for a "turnaround team" that would make longer-term changes in the dysfunctional election operation.

Heh. They said dysfunctional.

Guess that's one term they could use to describe the most egregious affront to liberty in the elections process seen since Mayor Daley's Chicago syndicate.

Washington state GOP Chairman issued this statement today in regard to the election contest ruling:

When she was certified the winner in the Governor’s race, Christine Gregoire called 2004 a “model election.” We, on the other hand, maintained that due to thousands of illegally cast votes, and egregious errors made by King County elections officials, it was impossible to actually know who was truly elected governor. Yesterday, despite ruling against us, Judge Bridges confirmed the major elements of our case.

He confirmed that there were at least 1,678 illegal votes cast; thirteen times the margin of victory. Yet Judge Bridges ruled that the law required absolute proof as to how each of those votes were cast. Think about that for a moment. That would require first; contacting each felon, double voter, and person who voted in the name of a dead person; second, persuading them to admit to a crime by admitting that they voted; and third, trusting that they would tell the truth about for whom they voted when doing so would hurt the candidate they wanted to see elected! Clearly, this is an impossible standard. Worse still, this standard means that the higher the number of illegal votes, the harder it is to prove an election contest.

On the issue of misconduct, errors, and possible fraud in King County, Judge Bridges confirmed that irregularities occurred. He acknowledged that King County was overtaken with a “culture of inertia and selfishness.” It was our position that the failings of King County opened the door to possible fraud and made it impossible to know the true winner of the election, and that that fact alone was grounds to annul the election. Yet the Judge ruled that we had to prove that the irregularities and misconduct everyone acknowledges occurred caused the election of Christine Gregoire. Again, this is simply an impossible standard to reach.

We believed, and still believe, that the law, and past court decisions allow courts to annul an election when it is impossible to know who truly won. We respectfully disagree with Judge Bridges’ interpretation of the law, but if he is right then the Washington State Legislature needs to take action next year, because Washington currently has no meaningful election contest procedure for a statewide election.

One thing I think we can all agree on is the benefit this contest action will have in terms of cleaning up our elections system. No one knew seven months ago how flawed our election system was. No one imagined that illegal voting was so common and widespread. And certainly no one imagined that King County would certify an election without knowing how many ballots were issued or returned. It took this litigation to show us the truth, and I believe that county auditors across the state will respond and make the necessary improvements.

In King County, however, Ron Sims and Dean Logan may say they’ve gotten the message, but we’ve heard that before. What the people of King County need and deserve is a new county executive who will truly change the culture of the elections office, and all of King County government. We look forward to working with the King County Republican Party to make that happen this Fall.

This has been a remarkable seven month crusade. I want to thank our outstanding legal team, and all the staff and volunteers of this joint effort of the State Party and the Rossi Campaign. I particularly want to thank Dino and Terri Rossi for having the courage to see this through. Although we were not successful, I am proud we stood up and fought the good fight. We did the right thing, and this state will be better off for it.

This finally closes the book on the 2004 election. Republicans won some and lost some, but I believe that electing Rob McKenna Attorney General, and electing Dino Rossi Governor – twice – demonstrates the ability of Republicans to win in this supposed blue state. We know the way now. We will move forward from here unified, energized, and ready to win in 2005, 2006, and beyond.

It is true that the 'book is now closed on the 2004' election - because there is no available recourse to pursue for justice within government institutions - but what the public must do in the aftermath of the demonstrated craven and dirty situation in our fair state is NOT foreclosed. If we allow an illegitimately elected governor to break her campaign promises and ransack public legislation that protects us from her pillage - if we allow these things to stand - then we might as well accept their benighted fifedoms and wear a branded 'SERF' across our foreheads.