recount/what is a vote in Washington State

[Neal McBurnett <neal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

As you may have heard, the race in Washington state got a lot closer
after the first recount.  It went from a margin of 261 votes out of
2.8 million in the original to only 42 votes difference in the
automatic recount: 1372484 to 1372442, still for Rossi.

Official results (by county if you click on the counties):
 http://vote.wa.gov/general/recount.aspx

What voting system was used in each county?
 http://www.secstate.wa.gov/elections/votingsystems.aspx

In general, the recount added 2429 new votes, about 0.1%

Here is an overall summary article, and my excerpts including info
that circled ovals were counted as votes:

 http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002098391_recount23m.html

 The state Republican Party on Saturday sued King County over how it
 was handling ballots that had been rejected by the counting
 machines. The Republicans argued those ballots should be excluded
 from the recount because they have to be checked by hand and
 inspectors have to surmise the intent of the voter, a process they
 say isn't being followed in 14 counties that use punch-card ballots.

 "Applying counting standards in selected counties different from
 those in others violates the equal-protection and due-process
 protections of the U.S. and Washington constitutions and ultimately
 will deny Washington voters of their fundamental right to vote," the
 lawsuit stated.

 Republicans singled out King County in the lawsuit. But the party
 hoped the judge would rule hand counting in all counties with
 optical-scan machines unconstitutional, state GOP Party Chairman
 Chris Vance said.

 The state election director, Nick Handy, said yesterday he hasn't
 seen anything wrong with how King County or other counties are
 handling ballots.

 "We are very comfortable with the duplication and enhancement
 process," Handy said. "We're comfortable that the counties are doing
 this consistently."

 If the voter's intent is clear ? say, an oval was circled instead of
 filled in or punched out ? the election worker fixes the ballot and
 sends it back through the machine. If it isn't clear, a canvassing
 board takes an even closer look to make a final determination about
 the vote.

Recount pricing:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002099856_webgovernor24.html

 If either side wants another recount, it has to pay the costs. At 25
 cents a ballot, the cost of a statewide recount would be about
 $700,000. Another machine recount would cost 15 cents a ballot, or
 about $420,000.


Neal McBurnett                 http://bcn.boulder.co.us/~neal/
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