Republican Hypocrites in Washington State

Via Susan Hu at dailykos, we find out that Republicans want to count only those previously uncounted ballots found in Washington State that come from Republican leaning counties:

In Snohomish County a tray of 224 uncounted ballots was found after the initial count and which were included in the subsequent count.

In King County, where about 900,000 votes were cast, the recount process uncovered 573 votes that officials say were mistakenly omitted from the first counts because election workers neglected to properly verify thier signatures, plus 22 that were found at the bottom of vote-counting machines. (KING TV FAQ on Recount)

Of course, the Republicans initially argued that the King County votes should be counted, until they did the math:

Both sides in the high court case [on Dec. 13, 2004, before the WA Supreme Court] used King County's discovery, on Sunday, of 561 wrongly disqualified absentee ballots as an example to prove their point.

Democrats said the newly discovered error [as of Dec. 13, 561 ballots -- there are some 732 now] shows why counties should go back and review all their rejected ballots, to search for similar mistakes.

Republicans said the King County case shows that the system works - election officials discovered a mistake and corrected it, in accordance with state law, without prompting from the courts. ...

(Rebecca Cook, A.P., "Supreme Court hears arguments in governor recount case, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Dec. 13, 2004)

The allegedly liberal NY Times takes a stance:

But there is no reason these ballots and other valid ballots that have turned up during the recount should not be counted. The right to vote cannot be taken away because an election official did not do his or her job correctly.