 Nov. 17,2004 King County certifies election and prepares for recountKing County Elections this afternoon certified the 2004 General Election, counting a record 898,238 ballots. In its final count at 4 p.m., election officials today counted 1,446 ballots. Of the 31,545 provisional ballots issued in King County, 27,641 provisional ballots, or 87 percent, were validated and included in the official count of the election. King County forwarded 877 provisional ballots to other counties. "I want to commend King County Election staff on a job well done," said Dean Logan, director of Records, Elections and Licensing Services. "Our focus now will be to prepare for a recount of all the ballots." To prepare for a hand recount, election officials are working to put procedures in place to begin recounting the Governor's race beginning at 8 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 21. In a hand recount, some 300 employees will spend up to four days sorting ballots by precinct. The following five days teams of three will sort and count the groups of ballots. Each group of ballots will be verified and tallied separately by team members in the presence of official political observers. Since King County has the greatest number of ballots to recount, Logan expects a hand recount of 898,238 ballots to take about 10 days. The preliminary schedule is to work Sunday, Nov.21 through Wednesday, Nov. 24 and resume counting after the Thanksgiving Day holiday. At this rate, King County expects to finish the hand recount Wednesday, Dec.1. Election officials estimate a machine recount would take between 4 to 5 days and start at 8 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 20 and conclude on Wednesday, November 24. The cost of a recount in King County has not been determined. |
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Updated: Nov.17, 2004 King County | Elections | News | Services | Comments | Search
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