Attack of the machines

Why would Democrats and Christine Gregoire want a hand recount in the state of Washington? Maybe because of this:

The machines used by Skagit County to tally votes made at least 36 mistakes in the count for the governor's race, which was decided by just 42 votes statewide.

It's impossible to tell whether some of the mistakes occurred on the first or the second count, according to county election officials.

The race between Republican Dino Rossi and Democrat Christine Gregoire was so close that there was an automatic machine recount of the votes.

The recount narrowed the gap even further, to the point where the standard error rate of the machines used by Skagit and other counties could affect the outcome of the governor's race.