The question of who got the most votes on election day has only one possible answer -- we're never going to know for sure. There's no way to tabulate millions of ballots without the final count being off by a few. Voters make mistakes. Vote counters make mistakes. Pens smudge, chads hang, signatures change, ballots get misplaced. If we recounted every week for the next 52 weeks we'd probably come up with 52 different totals.

In most elections, the margin of victory is so much larger than the counting error that the true winner is clear. This November's governor's race was so close that even the best system imaginable would leave doubt as to who got the most votes. Yes, we should try to improve the counting process before the next election. No, we shouldn't think we'll ever get it perfect.

However, no one has produced any evidence of fraud or of voter intimidation. The election was a little sloppier than we'd like. But it wasn't dishonest. Tidier would be nice, but nothing happened in Washington that should shake our faith in the system.

Gregoire and Rossi were the players through election day. Now our attention turns to the politicians who acted honorably, or not so honorably, in the election's aftermath.

Take Republican Secretary of State Sam Reed. In early December, Reed sided with the Republican Party in the state Supreme Court, arguing that each county canvassing board had the authority to make local decisions about the recount. What did Reed do in late December, when, the shoe being on the other foot, it was now the Democrats who were in state Supreme Court arguing for local authority? He stuck to his principles, even though that meant siding with the Democrats. Reed put consistency and integrity above partisan interests. Reed's a big winner.

After Reed, credit for being stand-up guys goes to the county canvassing boards who did what they thought was right, even if it went against their own party. Let's hear some cheers for the all-Republican Lewis County canvassing board, which refused to hold an extra recount requested by the state Republican Party. Across the state, canvassing boards stood up to political pressure. Members of the canvassing boards surely made errors, but they played fair. Kudos to those who put principle above partisanship.

Who lost public esteem? Anyone who cried fraud and then didn't come forth with any evidence. At the top of the list comes State Republican Chairman Chris Vance, who in the past has had a pretty good reputation. Vance accused the Democrats of "flat-out trying to steal the election with illegal votes."

Arguing about the level of competence of election officials or even their fairness is in some part a matter of opinion on which people can disagree. But you cross a line when you claim fraud or illegal activity.

Charges of criminal activity should be backed by evidence. If the Republican party does has evidence of election crimes, that evidence should go straight to the prosecuting attorney. And as a reminder, the prosecutor in Democratic-vote-supplying King County is the widely respected, experienced, and very Republican Norm Maling.

It's OK to get heated up attending a close ballgame. It's natural that tempers rise when instant replays shot from different angles appear to show different results. Arguing that the refs blew calls that went against your team is an American tradition. But we don't expect a good referee to change his decision based on crowd noise.

So three cheers for Sam Reed and a bunch of upstanding election officials across the state. They've acted with honor in an imperfect game.

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Dick Startz is Castor Professor of Economics and Davis Distinguished Scholar at the University of Washington. He can be reached at econcol@u.washington.edu.

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This column appeared in the following publication:

Everett Herald, Jan. 5, 2005