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How Washington recounts ensure every vote matters

How Washington recounts ensure every vote matters

As 2018’s closely-watched General Election draws near, it may prove useful to read up about how recounts help ensure fair and secure elections for Washington’s candidates and voters. Nearly a decade ago in this space, we were prompted by a handful of very close election outcomes to summarize the basics of the process, which is also described on our Elections page here. Under state law RCW 29A.64.021, recounts are required in elections in which an apparent winner’s margin of victory…

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Recount season over, no races overturned

Recount season over, no races overturned

Wrapping up Washington’s election recount season Tuesday, Benton County officials have declared Dan Kathren the winner of a District Court judgeship by a margin of 15 votes out of over 50,000 cast. After reviewing a handful of ballots that had been challenged by election staff during the hand recount, one vote was subtracted from Kathren’s original tally and seven votes were subtracted from Alex Ekstrom’s total.  That left Kathren the winner at 25,057, with Ekstrom close behind at 25,042. County…

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Election certified, now for some recounts

Election certified, now for some recounts

After three weeks of people checking our Elections webpage and wondering when the General Election will FINALLY be completed, we can now say that this election has been put to bed, with the exception of a handful of legislative and local races that need recounts. All of the counties have certified their election results, and Secretary Reed and Governor Gregoire will certify the state results on December 2 at the Capitol. The voter turnout in this election was 71.24 percent,…

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Recount range: 2,000 votes apart or less

Recount range: 2,000 votes apart or less

Lots of national press and others are asking about Washington’s recount laws if some of our races end up ultra-close, such as the U.S. Senate contest, the Supreme Court, ballot measures or legislative and congressional races. Short answer:  A mandatory machine recount is triggered if the gap is less than 2,000 votes and less than one-half of 1 percent of the total votes cast for the two sides. A hand recount is triggered for statewide races if the gap is…

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