You'd almost think they were bars of gold bullion, but they are paper ballots that are kept padlocked in a wire cage, guarded by sheriff's deputies with guns, overseen by paid representatives of the Republican, Democratic, and Libertarian parties - presumably without guns - all of whom watch every twitch and tabulation of every election employee.

The scene inside a King County administration building here is an attempt to determine - once and for all - who won the governorship of Washington State, three weeks after the election.

Amid sack lunches, takeout pizza, and Thai food cartons, election officials in the state's most populous county are optically scanning paper ballots as part of a statewide recount. Out of more than 2.7 million votes cast, the margin between Republican Dino Rossi and Democrat Christine Gregoire was less than 270 votes in the most recent tabulation - and was changing hands almost by the hour.

It's probably not even worth saying who's ahead at the moment. Democracy, of course, isn't always as neat as an anchorman's hairdo. Twenty days after the election, more than a few races around the country remain undecided - including two statewide contests in North Carolina, a governor's race in Puerto Rico, the mayoral matchup in San Diego. Even President Bush's margin of victory in New Mexico remains undetermined.

But few undecided contests are as close, and emotional, as the still-unfolding election here in what could become a made-for-TV-movie called "The Washington State Governorship."

First Ms. Gregoire, the state attorney general, was ahead. Then Mr. Rossi, a state senator and former realtor, was out front. Through it all, Washingtonians are trying to figure out if all this uncertainty and recounting means democracy is working the way it should or if, somehow, the election process has blown a fuse again.

"Do I trust the recount?" wondered Dirk Hein, a Seattle acupuncturist. He shook his head quizzically. "I have no idea what the process is."

State officials think they do. In all 39 counties, local election officials have rolled up their sleeves and begun recounting ballots. Last Thursday, when some 2,742,567 votes were totaled for the first time, conservative Republican Rossi led liberal Democrat Gregoire by a scant 261 votes. Not only did the minuscule margin trigger an official machine recount, it raised trenchant questions in a year when electoral propriety and the divide between red states and blue are passionate national issues. Gregoire's campaign is already being scrutinized to explain how a front-runner came to be locked in a dead heat in a state that hasn't seen a Republican governor in 20 years.

All was still undecided as the recount of the closest statewide race in history here began Saturday, when 130 election workers in King County, the state's most populous, began the ritual on behalf of the democracy's credibility. Working from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., 45 people continuously work the optical scanners that read the paper ballots.

The remaining 38 counties began counting Monday. Only two of these, Snohomish and Yakima, employ the now infamous touch-screen machines. Most of the state's votes are hand marked and optically scanned. Cost of the recount, according to Joanie Nacke of the secretary of state's office, will only cost "a few thousand dollars."

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