Published: Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Auditor certifies county elections; two races to be recounted
EVERETT — Two races are headed for automatic hand recounts after Snohomish County officials on Tuesday completed a final Nov. 3 general election tally.
The canvassing board certified election results Tuesday afternoon.
Still undecided are spots on the Brier City Council and the Marysville Fire District.
Incumbent Dennis Nick leads Mike Gallagher by one vote in the Position 3 race in Brier. The margin is 992 to 991.
In the contest for Position 3 on Fire District 12, Iris Lilly has a 10-vote lead over Marilyn Sheldon. The vote count is 3,494 to 3,484.
Nick said it has been an agonizing ride since election night. At one point, he said, he trailed by more than 20 votes before eventually taking an eight-vote lead. Nick and Gallagher were tied entering this week when the lone ballot counted Monday went to Nick.
“It doesn't get any closer than that,” Nick said.
“Every vote really does count,” Nick added. “Everyone is telling me that it's their vote that is the difference.”
Gallagher said there is “no way to know” until next week who won.
“The coolest part about it is it's a good civics lesson at my kids' school,” he said.
He jokingly added that he would like to have “a little chat” with the 10 voters who cast write-in ballots.
State law requires a hand recount when the final difference is less than one-quarter of 1 percent and fewer than 150 votes, said Garth Fell, the county's election manager.
The hand counts are scheduled for Dec. 3.
Final turnout for the mail-in general election ballot was 48.6 percent. That translates to 180,794 of 371,915 voters casting ballots.
“We were projecting 53 percent,” Fell said. “That was an optimistic projection. I think the 48 percent is in line with odd-year elections. We thought the statewide initiatives would create more interest but that wasn't the case.”
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com.
See the numbers
To review final election results, go to www.snoco.org/elections/results/ecurrent.htm.
The canvassing board certified election results Tuesday afternoon.
Still undecided are spots on the Brier City Council and the Marysville Fire District.
Incumbent Dennis Nick leads Mike Gallagher by one vote in the Position 3 race in Brier. The margin is 992 to 991.
In the contest for Position 3 on Fire District 12, Iris Lilly has a 10-vote lead over Marilyn Sheldon. The vote count is 3,494 to 3,484.
Nick said it has been an agonizing ride since election night. At one point, he said, he trailed by more than 20 votes before eventually taking an eight-vote lead. Nick and Gallagher were tied entering this week when the lone ballot counted Monday went to Nick.
“It doesn't get any closer than that,” Nick said.
“Every vote really does count,” Nick added. “Everyone is telling me that it's their vote that is the difference.”
Gallagher said there is “no way to know” until next week who won.
“The coolest part about it is it's a good civics lesson at my kids' school,” he said.
He jokingly added that he would like to have “a little chat” with the 10 voters who cast write-in ballots.
State law requires a hand recount when the final difference is less than one-quarter of 1 percent and fewer than 150 votes, said Garth Fell, the county's election manager.
The hand counts are scheduled for Dec. 3.
Final turnout for the mail-in general election ballot was 48.6 percent. That translates to 180,794 of 371,915 voters casting ballots.
“We were projecting 53 percent,” Fell said. “That was an optimistic projection. I think the 48 percent is in line with odd-year elections. We thought the statewide initiatives would create more interest but that wasn't the case.”
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com.
See the numbers
To review final election results, go to www.snoco.org/elections/results/ecurrent.htm.
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