Washington governor's win upheld by court

WENATCHEE, Wash., June 6 (UPI) -- A Washington state judge Monday upheld Gov. Christine Gregoire's 129-vote victory in 2004.

"This is great news, Judge (John) Bridge's ruling means that the state can finally move on." Gregoire, a Democrat, said in a statement. "It means that we can put this election behind us and, instead, focus all of our attention and our energies on improving our schools, tackling the health care crisis, growing the economy and making sure government is accountable."

The judge said there was evidence that 1,678 illegal votes were cast in the 2004 election, including 1,391 votes by felons, but there was no evidence that Gregoire benefited from the illegal votes and there was no evidence of misconduct by election workers, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported.

The lawsuit was filed in January by Gregoire's opponent Republican Dino Rossi to overturn Gregoire's victory in a hand recount of more than 2.8 million ballots cast.

Rossi spokeswoman Mary Lane said the former candidate had not yet decided whether to appeal.