Democrat Christine Gregoire wins in Washington (?)

It sounds like the 700+ votes the GOP is trying to block might not even be necessary for the Democratic win in the state's Gubernatorial contest.

Democrats have claimed victory in the race for Washington governor by a razor-thin margin of eight votes, citing preliminary results of a hand recount they say puts Christine Gregoire in front for the first time. Republicans maintained the race was still too close to call.

The stunning turnaround was reported late Tuesday by the head of the state Democratic Party, who said party officials' analysis of hand-counted returns from King County — the last county to finish the grueling process — showed that Gregoire had eclipsed the dwindling margin that Republican Dino Rossi has held since Election Day.

Link.

Even if the aforementioned hundreds of blocked votes are not necessary for a Gregoire win, I wholeheartedly believe they should still be counted. America's Democracy relies on the belief that everyone's vote counts and every vote is counted; I certainly hope that proves true this year in Washington state.