Washington Bureau

Recounts:  They’re Not Just For Florida Anymore

While the presidential race was decided decisively (even though North Carolina's electoral votes are still in question) there are some races that won't be determined for weeks because of recounts.

In Minnesota, Sen. Norm Coleman leads challenger Al Franken by fewer than 500 votes. The contest for Virginia's fifth congressional district is even closer: Democrat Tom Perriello leads Republican Virgil Goode, the incumbent, by 31 votes according to the latest tally.

Several elections for state offices across the country will also go to recounts.

Everyone remembers the 2000 Florida recount debacle, when George W. Bush won Florida and therefore the White House after court battles over the recount eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court. Bush's margin of victory was just over 2,000 votes on election night, but recounts in some districts narrowed that lead to just 537 votes.

In 2004, the Washington gubernatorial election was initially called for Republican Dino Rossi, who had a 261 vote lead over Democrat Christine Gregoire. The machine recount shrunk that lead to 42 votes, but during a manual recount additional ballots were discovered, as well as ballots that improperly disallowed in the initial vote tallies. Several lawsuits later, Gergoire was declared the winner by a 130 vote margin. Rossi didn't officially concede until June of 2005, after several court challenges failed to change the outcome of the final recount. Gregoire defeated Rossi again Tuesday by a wider margin.

Less well know, at least to people outside of Minnesota, is the recount of that state's 1962 gubernatorial election. Initial results indicated that incumbent Elmer Andersen had defeated Karl Rolvaag by 142 votes. It wasn't until March of 1963 after a recount and a court battle over that recount, that Rolvaag emerged as the winner by 91 votes.
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