North Olympic Peninsula voters who cast ballots but didn’t vote for governor — 1,713 of them — could have decided the statewide contest between Dino Rossi and Christine Gregoire.
The striking total of ambivalent electors emerged in Monday’s recount of the governor’s race in Clallam and Jefferson counties.
When voting statewide was certified last Wednesday, Republican Rossi led Democrat Gregoire by only 261 votes out of nearly 2.8 million cast.
An automatic recount began Saturday in each of Washington’s 38 counties and is expected to be finished by Wednesday.
In Clallam, 1,364 passed on voting for Rossi, Gregoire or Libertarian Ruth Bennett.
A total of 349 Jefferson County voters didn’t cast a vote in the gubernatorial race.
