With Christine Gregoire, the Democratic candidate for Governor in Washington, only 42 votes behind Republican candidate Dino Rossi, the state faces an unprecedented statewide hand recount of Washington’s 2.9 million ballots. Rossi was certified the winner last week, but the Democratic Party agreed to pay more than $700,000 for a hand recount of the ballots that is not likely to finish until the week of Christmas, according to the Associated Press. Meanwhile, Democrats have filed a lawsuit in the state Supreme Court to make counties reconsider previously rejected ballots, according to the Seattle Times. The first vote count found the candidates 142 votes apart, and a machine recount brought that number to 42. Despite the fact that Rossi is less than two thousandths of 1 percent ahead of Washington state Attorney General Gregoire, he is accusing the candidate of “trying to overturn the legitimate result of this election by any means necessary, ethical or not,” according to Rossi spokeswoman Mary Lane, the Seattle Times reports. John Kerry has joined the fight in Washington, sending the Democratic Party there $200,000 leftover from his campaign funds to support the recount, AP reports.
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