Remember Washington’s “Election from Hell,” the 2004 governor’s race that took three vote tallies and a court challenge before Governor Gregoire was affirmed as chief executive seven months after the election?  Have you been watching the similarly tight race still playing out for the U.S. Senate seat in Minnesota?

Maybe it was misery-loves-company or maybe it was like re-telling war stories, but the election directors of Washington and Minnesota were a big draw last weekend at the winter meeting of the National Assoiciation of State Election Directors. The audience included attorneys who represent the 50 state elections offices around the USA.

Nick Handy, Washington’s elections director, and Minnesota’s Gary Poser were struck by some of the similarities ….

–Washington’s race attracted 2.8 million voters that year; 2.9 million Minnesotans voted for Senate this year.

–The Washington race ended 129 votes apart; Minnesota’s was 225 apart.

–Both states’ counts were 99.99 percent accurate.

–Both states said their tabulators and voting systems were OK and that all mistakes were human error by voters or election workers. 

–The lawsuit challenging the Washington governor’s outcome was filed on a January 8; the Minnesota challenge was filed this January 7.  It took until summertime of 2005 for the WA governor’s race to be settled, and Minnesota is in protracted litigation now. 

–One other deja vu moment: the Democratic attorneys who worked on the Gregoire-Rossi election contest are also worked on the Minnesota case. And Secretary Sam Reed of Washington and Secretary Mark Ritchie of Minnesota are good friends from their work on the National Association of Secretaries of State.

After the Washington experience spotlighted many deficiencies in election laws and procedures, the Legislature, governor, secretary of state and auditors teamed up to approve and implement hundreds of reforms. The work continues.

By the numbers: Here is a recap of the 2004 gov’s race.