Good luck: Three times recounts have overturned elections – Washington Examiner
The article discusses the infrequency of recounts changing election results, illustrated by Congressman Bob Good’s (R-VA) situation, where he hopes a recount in his primary will help him retain his seat. Despite his hopes, the article notes that much recent history shows few recounts lead to altered outcomes. It highlights three notable instances where recounts did change the results.
1. **2004 Washington Gubernatorial Election**: This race between Democrat Christine Gregoire and Republican Dino Rossi was extraordinarily close, with Rossi initially leading by 261 votes. A machine recount narrowed this lead further to just 42 votes, prompting a hand recount financed by the Democratic Party that ultimately resulted in Gregoire winning by 130 votes, following the discovery of previously uncounted ballots.
2. **2006 Vermont Auditor of Accounts Election**: In this lower-profile race, incumbent Republican Randy Brock was initially declared the winner over Democrat Thomas Salmon by 137 votes. However, a recount revealed that Salmon had actually won by 102 votes due to errors in the initial vote count.
The article emphasizes the rarity of recounts successfully overturning certified election outcomes and contextualizes Bob Good’s situation within this historical framework.
Good luck: Three times recounts have overturned elections
As Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) hopes a recount in his primary will save him from losing his seat in Congress, the rarity of recounts changing results means he should not get his hopes up.
In recent years, few race results have changed after recounts despite many election challenges. With Good looking for a miracle in the GOP primary for Virginia’s 5th Congressional District, here are three races where a recount flipped an election result.
2004 Washington gubernatorial election
Washington has not elected a Republican governor since 1980, but it nearly did so in 2004. The gubernatorial matchup between Democrat Christine Gregoire and Republican Dino Rossi was the closest governor’s race in modern history.
The initial count a week after the election found Rossi leading Gregoire by 261 votes, prompting a machine recount. Following the machine recount, Rossi’s lead was narrowed to 42 votes.
The closer margin prompted the state Democratic Party to pay for a hand recount, which initially put Gregoire up by eight votes before expanding her lead to 130 votes. The increased margin came after King County officials found votes that had been allegedly missed on initial counts, according to KING 5.
The close election set off a litany of court challenges, including over the additional votes found and other votes Republicans had argued had been cast illegally. The GOP court challenges were unsuccessful, with the final court case ending on June 7, 2005, months after Gregoire had been inaugurated as governor.
2006 Vermont auditor of accounts election
A lower-profile statewide race in Vermont two years later also featured a recount changing the outcome of a race.
In the contest for state auditor, incumbent Republican Randy Brock was certified as the winner over Democratic challenger Thomas Salmon by 137 votes. The close margin was grounds for a recount.
After the recount in December 2006, Vermont Secretary of State Deborah Markowitz announced that Salmon defeated Brock by 102 votes. Markowitz said the additional votes for Salmon in the recount were erroneously given to a third-party candidate in the initial count of the votes, according to the New York Times.
2008 Minnesota Senate election
One of the most bitterly contested recounts occurred in the 2008 Senate race in Minnesota.
Republican Norm Coleman, the incumbent, was shown to be ahead of Democratic challenger Al Franken by roughly 215 votes in the initial count, but a recount then put Franken up by 225 votes. The state certified the recount margin, but Coleman challenged the recount in court.
The legal challenges played out for months until the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled in Franken’s favor in June 2009. Coleman declined to appeal further and conceded the race.
A conservative watchdog group later alleged that it suspected more than 1,000 ineligible convicted felons voted in Democratic hotbeds in the Senate election, casting some doubt on the election results. Franken’s Senate race victory gave Democrats a 60-seat supermajority in the chamber at the time.
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