BREAKING NEWS: Wash. Supreme Court rules in favor of Dems

[sabra]

Top of page in red...
<<SNIP>>
http://www.king5.com

The Supreme Court of Washington has ruled that King County should allow over 700 uncounted votes in the recount for Washington's governor.
<</SNIP>>

[MrUnderhill]

1. Wo HOO!

And the early report of a small margin in our favor was BEFORE these votes are included... right?

[sabra]

3. Correct n/t

[pk_du]

2. Woohooo...go Gregoire

...just same on CNN Alert.

[MissB]

4. Congrats, Governor Gregoire! (nt)

[librechik]

5. Dems: count all the votes! Pukkkes: STOP that vote counting!

we win a small one!

[lovuian]

6. well I hope they are for the Democrat since she is ahead by 8

:bounce:

[sabra]

7. King County was 2:1, so it looks good. n/t

[LisaL]

28. It should be. The ballots are in Kings county so she should pick

up more votes there.
:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[ScrewyRabbit]

8. Suck on that, GOP!!

[trotsky]

9. And now, the party that "trusts people, not the government"...

will appeal to the FEDERAL SUPREME COURT to make sure that "state's rights" are held sacred. :eyes:

[dbt]

11. No shit. Watch RehnKKKwist drag himself off his death bed

So he can rule on this one.

:grr:
dbt

[Scooter24]

34. I don't believe the USSC would touch this case

In 2002, they didn't get involved in the NJ senate dispute and following their highly critical 2000 rulings, I wouldn't expect them to even think about this one.

Rossi could of course appeal to the 9th Circuit, but I can see the GOP just cringe at that notion. LOL :P

[knowbody0]

10. yeah

poor rossi he he he he ho ho ho

[zann725]

62. He ALMOST had that victory party planned...remember?

LOL! :bounce:

[corbett]

12. Where Was An Accurate Recount On KKKarl's Spreadsheet?

I am, of course, overjoyed that the candidate who actually received the greatest number of votes will be inaugurated but #2 on my hit list of goodies to emerge from this story is that the count was accurate on the whole. Sure, those 700+ ballots never should have been mislaid in the first place but Washington is nothing compared with Ohio in terms of getting it right.

http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=4816

[sinkingfeeling]

13. Finally, some sanity!!

[LiberalinNC]

14. Great news!

:) :) :) :)

[imenja]

15. US Supreme Court?

Horray! Happiness! We won one! Gosh, I hope the US Supremes don't steal this one too. Have any plans for appeal to the federal level been announced?

[LisaL]

30. No, Wa supreme court.

[imenja]

60. already ruled

According to this post, the WA Supreme Court has already ruled. What I'm wondering is if the Republicans will appeal to the US Supreme Court.

[Zephyrbird]

64. I'm sure they will; however,

let's just see how far the Supreme Court is willing to whore itself to the Republican party. A revisit to Bush v. Gore is timely. Here is a link to the decision:

http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/00-949.ZPC.html

Now, be sure to read the concurrence by Rehnquist, especially this paragraph:

"In most cases, comity and respect for federalism compel us to defer to the decisions of state courts on issues of state law. That practice reflects our understanding that the decisions of state courts are definitive pronouncements of the will of the States as sovereigns. Cf. Erie R. Co. v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64 (1938). Of course, in ordinary cases, the distribution of powers among the branches of a State’s government raises no questions of federal constitutional law, subject to the requirement that the government be republican in character. See U.S. Const., Art. IV, §4. But there are a few exceptional cases in which the Constitution imposes a duty or confers a power on a particular branch of a State’s government. This is one of them. Article II, §1, cl. 2, provides that “ach State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct,” electors for President and Vice President. (Emphasis added.) Thus, the text of the election law itself, and not just its interpretation by the courts of the States, takes on independent significance."

Now what that means is that Rehnquist basically limited the Supreme Court to questions regarding FEDERAL elections; since this is a STATE election, Rehnquist has--supposedly--tied the hands of the Supreme Court to hear challenges of state elections.

NOW. It would be pretty damn funny if the SCOTUS agrees to hear argument on the state election for governor, and Gregoire's attorneys cite the Bush v. Gore decision as grounds for dismissal of the suit, citing Rehnquist's stated limitations on SCOTUS' right to impose its will on a state regarding a strictly state election.

SNARF!

[imenja]

91. federal elections

Interesting. I appreciate the excerpt. But aren't all elections, as a constitutional matter, state elections?

[Massachusetts]

16. Congrats Gov. G.

Lets keep the boat upright....wooohooooo!:toast:

[Pachamama]

17. I felt this was going to be the result when the 1 female Supreme asked the

question to the Repuke Lawyer about whether the issue was the right/issue of the voter, not the rights/issue of the candidates....

Congratulations to Christine Gregoire and the people of Washington! Atleast this time the good "guy" won....or rather I should say, that a fair recount showed the "true" victor.... :bounce:

[lonestarnot]

20. A given with those repukes!

[lonestarnot]

18. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOHOOOOO!!!!!

RIGHT ON!

[onenote]

19. the sound you hear

is of repug heads exploding...and I love it!!!


onenote

[TheWebHead]

21. lmao watching NWCN

these phone callers are spitting fire on the Republican side. They of course are mushing the 20-some votes found in the voting machine with the 700 votes that were always accounted for but not counted due to signature clerical error.

[sabra]

22. Of course they are, what else would you expect? n/t

[Sleepless In NY]

23. Awesome!

Washington dems are really fighters and it paid off! Congrats!

[Florida_Geek]

24. bugmenot login that works

[e-mail]
blarth

[saracat]

25. When will we know the results! I am soo happy!

[Viva_La_Revolution]

26. Statement from Christine Gregoire regarding Supreme Court decision

SEATTLE, Wa. – Chris Gregoire issued the following statement about the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision to allow ballots mistakenly ignored by King County to be counted.
“From day one, this has been about counting every legitimate ballot.

“Because of King County’s mistake and a computer error, hundreds of ballots were never counted. But there is a sacred American right to have legitimate votes counted. The justices recognized that principle today.
“The court’s unanimous decision is not a boost for me or for Dino Rossi – it is a victory for the voters. It is a victory for anyone who believes that every legitimate ballot should count.

“We’ve heard from many of these voters over the last few days. Some of them voted for Rossi, and some for me. They are people like Jack Oxford, who watched the fate of his vote be debated in the courtroom this morning. They are people like Mat Harrington and Brian Ecker, who wrote letters in the weekend paper about their frustrations.”
“This wasn’t about who wins the race. It’s about protecting these voters’ sacred right to have their legitimate votes counted.”


This is very good for us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[LisaL]

31. Exactly. Those are legal ballots, so what right anybody has not

to have them counted? None!

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

51. The Repukes had no problem with counties who favored Rossi

canvassing additional ballots during the recount. But tthey cried the blues over King county doing the same. King county is where Dino Rossi is from. They must know something about him.

[fortyfeetunder]

66. Yes, we in King Co know about Rossi.

He is not candidate material.

The WA State Pugs have yet to provide a gubernatorial candidate who was not a right wing wacko or a borderline crook like Rossi. (Maybe next time they can move Alan Keyes up here to run)

The last Pug governors I could have halfway respected were Dan Evans and John Spellman. The last three candidates (Craswell, Carlson and Rossi) aren't even of the same caliber. Not by a long shot.

[superconnected]

27. wonderful but this keeps tottering back and forth

Great news, bad new, great news, bad news. I live here and I can't keep up. I don't trust any of the news about it yet. Everytime it contradicts the last news.

[davidinalameda]

29. we won!!!!

whoo hoo!!!!

[Stinky The Clown]

32. IF this goes to SCOTUS, they will rule in favor of the Dems

With all the shit about voting and cheating for the last four years, this one, if it ever gets to SCOTUS, is a slam dunk to be a "gimme" for the Dems. For them to rule otherwise, no matter what the reason, would simply be beyond the pale and the howling would be ceaseless. In extremis, it could lead to serious civil unrest. Since they control all aspects of the government, this one is an easy call for them so we'll keep quiet.

Placate the plebeians.

[0007]

33. I watched the argument on c-span and I thought the dems

did a damn good job.

[ngant17]

35. a nice bit of news for a change

For turning 47 today, I welcome the apparent Dem. victory in Washington State as a nice birthday present in the news for me.

Not that it will affect the Shrub's control in the House and Senate.

The lesson to here is to keep the voting counting done the old fashioned way, by hand counts and paper trail. Why should you need a sophisticated computer program for vote counts when we're only talking about an adding machine which, at best, need not be anything more technically advanced than an abacus?

[ktowntennesseedem]

48. Happy Birthday and welcome to DU!!! -eom

[benburch]

36. Note to the Freepers...

We are counting those ballots no matter what they contain! Even if we lose.

You don't have the GUTS to do that, do you?

[sonias]

37. Congratulations once again, Governor Gregoire

WA Dems and Gregoire did the right thing for the people of WA - insist on counting all the votes. The people have spoken and Gregoire won.

Sonia

[Dancing_Dave]

38. So the Repuke Grinch couldn't steal the Spirit of Democracy

In Washington state at least.

Now, what about OHIO?

[gratuitous]

39. Wow, we fight, we win. Whoda thunk it?

Looking forward to Rossi's concession speech any minute now. Should I hold my breath, or do you suppose Dino's going to be a sore loser?

Votes have been counted, Gregoire won. Let's all move on, shall we?

[blue agave]

40. But Rossi already had his victory celebration party ... ? (n/t)

[bahrbearian]

49. Had a Victory Party, then went on a Cruise in the Caribbean.

Probably stopped in Florida to give Chimpys bag man his cut. Sorry about that Jeb, give him back his money.

[ally_sc]

41. wonderful...good example for the rest

of the states and counties where races were questionable or fixed...woo-woo!

[Mike Niendorff]

42. Great news.

Hats off to Washington state Dems for having the guts to go toe-to-toe against the Republicans to ensure that every vote is counted. Secondly, hats off to all the progressives out here on the net who donated and raised hell to get them the $700K that they needed to get this recount off the ground at all. Bravo to each and every one of you.

:toast:


MDN

[Pachamama]

57. I gave $100...it was important to me, regardless of who won, that every

vote be counted...but there was no doubt in my mind that Gregoire won...I used to live in King County & I knew there was no way that Rossi had won the state by 42 votes without a recount...best $100 I ever spent...now I'm hoping that the $$$ I donated to the Green's for OH & NM is as well spent too...

:bounce:

[eridani]

63. Thanks so much for that!

And for all the other people who gave as well.

[cascadiance]

69. I put in $50 too...

Best contribution I made this year!!!

Hope folks like you remember us down here in San Diego, so that the "full" west coast gets joined together when the Republic of Cascadia gets formed later. I'm glad there's now another Democratic governor in the mix to help with that possibility and outweigh any Republican aims that Arny might have.

[cascadiance]

70. Please also help Donna Frye's appeals to get elected down here in S.D.

She has most of the votes here. They just don't want to count 4000-5000 of them for "technical reasons" that the oval wasn't checked next to the write in name they gave for her. If those are counted (you remember it's about voter intent, not intelligence tests), she wins. Since they haven't counted them, she's now viewed to have lost. We need someone like her in office to help newly elected Aguire to clean up the local government's handling of pensions, etc. down here which is a total mess and has totally destroyed the city's credit.

[w4rma]

43. Yay! One for the good guys. Count ALL the votes. (nt)

[Dem2theMax]

44. Arms just went flying into the air in a HUGE "YES!"

Felt like I was yelling TOUCHDOWN!

:bounce:


Oh boy is this good news! Need to bounce some more. :)


:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[Bugaboo]

45. Yay!

It's a good day for WA state. We really didn't need a repuke governor. I wish I could be a fly on the wall at WA state repub hq so I could see Vance turning red in the face. Any challenge to the count now will make the repubs look piss poor losers.

Time for Rossi to concede.

ETA: King county should be officially annoucing their results any minute now, if they haven't already.

[Raftysworld]

46. Note

They're announcing the results at 4:00 PM PST (10 minutes). Northwest residents, tune into Komo4 (or something else), everyone else, keep your eye on http://www.komotv.com and http://vote.wa.gov/general/recount_resultsbycounty.aspx . This is a great day for democracy.

[Bugaboo]

52. Thx!

For some reason I thought they were announcing at 3:30.

[govegan]

47. Some programmer's head is going to roll after this one...

Whoever was responsible for manipulation of the results in the two counties with the paperless touchscreens is going to be in deep elephant doo-doo.

Democrats: just count the votes

Repukes: discount the votes, and intimidate, manipulate, orchestrate the media

Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho

:toast:

And thanks again to progressives across the US who helped make this happen with donations and support!

[ausiedownunderground]

50. Congratulations Dem's. Now can you try Washington D.C Please

[maryallen]

53. Yes!!!

Go Gregoire!

[Flammable Materials]

54. PUGS WANT A "DO-OVER".

I heard on NPR this evening that the Republicans are going to demand a new election if Gregoire becomes the winner after these additional votes are counted.

[rfrrfrrfr]

55. Chris Vance the republican party chairman was

Just on the radio. He is now insisting that all the other counties re-examine ballots that were initially disqualified. Hmmm odd that sounds vaguely familiar.

Oh yes the DEMORCRATS sued the state to try and do just that using a uniform standard no less. And at that time he was arguing that they should not be counted and if my memory serves me correctly the SC aggreed with the republicans on that one.

He also lied about what the SC ruling said. Of course neither person who was interviewing him bothered to point these things out on air.

So when Rossi was winning its ok not to count everybodies vote, but now that they are losing they want them counted.

He also completely ignored the fact that even if those ballots had been excluded Rossi still loses.

Stupid, biggoted, Ignorant, hypocritical, lying republican is what he is.

[mom cat]

56. This is wonderful! We needed this, and so did Washington!

[RawMaterials]

58. who ho why cant this happen

on all levels of democracy

[StopDiggingTheHole]

59. Is it still a virtual tie?

When Rossi was leading by 42 votes, Gregoire stated that the race was a "virtual tie." Is the current 10 vote difference still a tie?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

87. Here, have one:

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

61. saw it all on CSPAN

very interesting arguments.
The pugs had a real snake trying to get the votes not counted.
Didn't convince me at all nor the judges obviously.
HA HA-
only works when daddy buys the justices like baby bushee's daddy did.
later for the pukes--
not this time-->):P

[GOPBasher]

65. Good news! Good news! Boy we really needed some, didn't we?

[Name removed]

67. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[miss_kitty]

78. riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight

funny. not. unclever as well

[cascadiance]

68. MANDATE!!!

She should now be able to push all of the liberal agenda she wants now as she now has "the will of the people". No need to answer two or more questions at once in press conferences, etc.!!! :)

[miss_kitty]

77. you mean like the cheney bush junta has been doing since day 1

the FIRST TIME they stole the election?

We do have a dem house and senate in theis state. Our senators are dems.

[cascadiance]

79. Yup, Washington dems now have themselves a MANDATE!

Hey, I think they've set the bar to allow for Washington to go full-bore into new liberal legislation. After all, if Bushco can claim a "mandate" to do stuff (with what they define as a "majority"), why can't the Dems in Washington now do so too!? Go for the gusto up there. I want to see a Cascadia/Pacifica proposition on the state ballot much like Move On California is looking into doing down here...

[derrald]

80. do you ever think before you speak?

Or are you stuck on bullshit mode?

If you want to ask questions you should be able to answer them - here's one: Why do republicans whine like three year olds everytime they lose something?

[Name removed]

71. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[derrald]

72. lol

nothing like wild accusations with no basis in fact when you find out that all the votes are being counted, eh?

The latest crybaby republican mantra: "WAAAHH, why cant they count only the votes we want them to count, WAAAAH!"

Stop sniffling and dont be a damned sore loser.

[miss_kitty]

74. self delete

posted to wrong thinger.

[miss_kitty]

75. self gd delete

same

[iamjoy]

73. Interesting, Source Please

For registered voters having the same address?

Could it be people in an apartment complex and the list just doesn't include the apartment number?

[miss_kitty]

76. and you got this info where?

proof. now.

Don't make claims you can't verify.

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

81. is that a fact or something you heard on Rush or Heil Hannity?

you sheep are so easily corralled!

must be hard grazing through life with the HERD

[DainBramaged]

83. I guess the Pukes still think they make a difference here

Maybe they should go back to Hannity or Freeper Trash and try to console each other. They still haven't accepted the fact that a full blown recount in Ohio will be the last gift to be unwrapped this Xmas.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

98. see ya........and 7 registered dems live at my address

[terbear143]

82. craziness!!!

This whole thing is totally crazy. I think both sides are acting like babies. I do think EVERY vote should count no matter what though. Being a washington resident and working with people that are on both sides of the spectrum it's hard to have and keep an opinion to myself. If Rossi wins my sister looses her job (she works for Gary Locke, our current Gov) so it's hard to explain that side to people... Without sounding like a total moron... ya know.

[DainBramaged]

84. "Acting like babies"?

Ask Karl Rove about the Pukes "acting like babies" and he'll laugh in your face. This is war, not checkers or Old Maid.

No surrender.

[miss_kitty]

86. uh-so the dems are 'acting like babies' for not throwing in the towel

when that worthless waste of space, Chris Vance, told them to? Before the vote recount began? Something not at all extra-legal in this state. It's the law for that margin.

So the dems are 'acting like babies' for wanting every vote counted, which is what they've said all along? You say "I do think EVERY vote should count no matter what though..." So does that mean you are acting like a baby too? Please tell us. How are the dems in WA St 'acting like babies'?

[lakelly]

85. Boo F***ing Hoo

Unbelievable,
I watched the hearings on CSPAN. The question from that Judge was just priceless as was watching that idiot lawyer sputter and stammer that he "didn't understand the question." LMAO
Governor Elect Rossi, er excuse me, I mean Mr Rossi, Please concede for the good of the state. You know in your heart its the "right thing to do." (sarcasm) :toast: Here's to you Mr. Rossi, for being such a good sport.

[miss_kitty]

88. No Shit

If he DID concede, he'd only be doing what he and his homies have been urging Gregoire to to do. He'd be out of the running for 'Biggest Dumbass Hypocrite of the Year.'

[ismnotwasm]

89. Just put my yard sign back up

Since we're still counting. The republicans in this state are unbelievable. They managed to make Rossi look like less of a wingnut than their last three candidates, and it almost worked.

[CreekDog]

90. She only needs 48.7% of the 700 King Co. votes

Gregoire needs minimum:

341 (or 48.7%) of the 700 votes to end up with a +1 margin overall

If the 700 ballots match the margin in King Co. overall she gets:

406 (or 58%) of the 700 votes to end up with a +66 margin overall

[ismnotwasm]

94. And she's 2:1 in King county

From what I understand. I'm very excited!

[maddezmom]

92. And the counting has begun....link:

SEATTLE - Election officials from Seattle's King County convened Thursday to begin counting more than 700 mistakenly discarded ballots that were expected to widen Democrat Christine Gregoire's lead in Washington's incredibly tight race for governor.


On Wednesday, Gregoire moved ahead of Republican Dino Rossi for the first time in the roller-coaster race, seizing a mere 10-vote lead out of 2.9 million ballots cast statewide, after the results of the latest statewide recount were reported.


Earlier that day, the state Supreme Court ruled that King County, the state's most populous county and a Democratic stronghold, could also count 700-plus belatedly discovered ballots. County officials planned to announce those results by late afternoon Thursday.


The Republicans have refused to concede the race, raising the possibility that it could drag on for weeks. Gregoire, for her part, urged Rossi to abide by the results of the recount.

more:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=703&e=1&u=/ap/20041223/ap_on_re_us/governor_recount

[4dsc]

93. What about military votes

the right is now screaming that there are vital military votes that are not going to be counted in Washington.. Can anybody fill me on these about votes??

[Bugaboo]

96. ballots have been certified...

I checked and it looks like their argument is that some military voters never received their ballots. It goes like this. WA state resident Joe Military in Iraq didn't get a ballot to vote on the gov race. He never contacted the state about this, and therefore didn't vote for gov, or any other WA state race. Now that Rossi is losing the repubs want to have Joe Military go back and vote.

Once the vote is certified, you can't go canvass for new votes, which is what Joe Military's vote would be. The ONLY reason King County can add in the overlooked ballots is because they had not certified the results yet. If they had certified, those voters would have remained disenfranchised. This is according to state law, and verified by REPUBLICAN Sec of State, Sam Reed.

Ridiculous. Hypocrites.

[truthisfreedom]

95. the thugs NEVER wanted anyone to know how those 700 votes turned out.

it makes them look ULTIMATELY shady if it goes DEMOCRATIC and they try to block those votes.

[Rainscents]

97. Let's fight for the Democracy!!!

I also donated $150.00 for recounts!!! I truly believe in democracy and accuracy of our vote to be counted and the right way to do this is "Hand Count", the old fashion way!

If this country had a hand count on Nov 2, Kerry would be our next president!