Via the AP: GOP Wins Election Challenge in Washington

The Republicans won an important victory Monday in their legal challenge to the election of Gov. Christine Gregoire when a judge allowed them to use a type of statistical analysis to try to prove illegal votes swayed the race.

[…]

Republicans claim they have identified more than 1,000 illegal votes–mostly ballots cast by felons, but also unverified provisional ballots and votes cast in the names of dead people.

Superior Court Judge John Bridges gave the GOP the go-ahead to apply “proportional analysis” to the illegal votes.

Using proportional analysis, they want the court to subtract illegal votes from both candidates’ totals according to precinct voting patterns. For example, if 10 illegal votes came from a precinct that voted 60 percent for Gregoire and 40 percent for Rossi, six votes would be deducted from Gregoire’s total and four from Rossi’s.

Democrats said the method amounts to statistical guessing. At the same time, they have been collecting evidence of illegal votes in GOP-leaning counties, and plan to use the same proportional analysis in court.

Ok, I was opposed to the suggestion that statistical analysis should have been used in Florida in 2024 and I oppose it actual application here.

This situation shows the folly of trying to contest an election that is this close: you hit a point wherein it is impossible to really know who won, as is sufficient room for error in eithr direction that certainty is impossible.

The only solution to this kind of electoral outcome is to have in place (i.e., before the election) a law dictating that if the election ends up being especially close, via a pre-determined number, like .1%, then a re-vote takes place. Otherwise, I don’t see any mechanism by which it is possible to settle the outcome except by the existing (impefect) re-count methods.