Oregon Public Broadcasting

The Washington governor’s race will likely be too close to call Tuesday night. But elections officials don’t expect a repeat of 2004 – when there were two recounts and a trial over the election. Olympia correspondent Austin Jenkins explains.

If the margin between Democrat Chris Gregoire and Republican Dino Rossi is fewer than 2000 after all the votes are counted - then the ballots will be machine-tallied again. But state elections Director Nick Handy says that would be like lightning striking twice.

Nick Handy: “To be within 2000 votes with 3 million votes being cast is just an absolutely remarkable event if it does get to that. So, the possibility is clearly there. Do we expect it? It would just be very unusual.”

But the election is expected to be close. That means it could take several days for counties to produce firm results in the governor’s race.

This year, the Secretary of State’s office is expecting the largest voter turnout since 1944.

If those predictions hold true, 200,000 more ballots would be cast than four years ago.