Letter From Dino Rossi To Christine Gregoire, Calling For Re-Vote In WA Governor Race
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December 29, 2004
Attorney General Christine Gregoire
1125 Washington Street
Olympia, WA 98504
Dear Attorney General Gregoire:
The Secretary of State will certify you as governor-elect tomorrow.
Although you will be certified, with all the problems that have plagued
this process there won't be many people in our state who believe with
certainty that you actually won the election. The uncertainty
surrounding this election process isn't just bad for you and me - it is
bad for the entire state. People need to know for sure that the next
governor actually won the election.
We've now had three counts - I was certified the victor after Counts 1
and 2, and you will be certified tomorrow as the victor of Count 3.
Throughout the entire process, King County Elections staff changed the
rules about which ballots would count and, at the end, the Supreme Court
also changed the rules. As it now stands, some people in King County
had the rules changed so their votes could count, while other wrongfully
disenfranchised people across the state - including many members of our
military - have been denied the opportunity to have their votes counted.
Additionally, I don't believe you'll find many people in this state who
think the hand recount was more accurate than the first two counts.
Even some Democratic elections officials have said hand counts are less
accurate. So we're now in a situation where nobody really knows who won
this election.
Our next governor should enter office without any doubt about the
legitimacy of his or her office. The people of Washington deserve to
know that their governor was elected fair and square. Unfortunately,
the events of the past few weeks now make it impossible for you or me to
take office on January 12 without being shrouded in suspicion.
The law allows me to contest the election. An election contest would
bring every questioned aspect of this election before the Legislature or
a court for review. It would take many weeks, perhaps months, to
complete. At the end, even if the results were to change back in my
favor, the state would have suffered from the long, drawn-out process.
For several weeks, former Secretary of State Ralph Munro has argued that
this election will never be seen as legitimate and that the best option
is to put it back into the hands of the voters for a revote. If our
roles were reversed, if you had won twice and I had only won in the
less-accurate hand recount, I would support a revote. I would not want
to enter office with so many people viewing my governorship as
illegitimate.
The only good answer is for the people to decide, once and for all, who
is the next governor. A revote would be the best solution for the
people of our state, and would give us a legitimate governorship. If
you and I were to join together and ask the Legislature to pass a bill
calling for a special election, the bill would pass quickly, as soon as
the 2005 session begins. The revote could be held as soon as possible.
I hope you will agree that a revote makes the most sense to build back
people's trust in our election process, and I look forward to your
response.
Best regards,
Dino Rossi
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