<< Previous   of   Next >>

ADVERTISEMENT

CONTACT THE ENTERPRISE Jocelyn Robinson, News editor jrobinson@heraldnet.com

Thursday recount for Brier Council

By Evan Smith
Enterprise political writer

Thursday’s the day to head to Everett to watch the recount of votes for a seat on the Brier City Council.

Brier City Councilman Dennis Nick led challenger Michael Gallagher by one vote when county officials certified results last week.

That means a hand recount with eight two-person teams looking at all 2,375 ballots from the eight Brier precincts to determine voter intent.

County elections officials plan to do the recount starting at 9 a.m. Thursday at the Bethany Tabulation Center, 1818 Pacific Ave., Everett. They’ll do recounts for both the Brier Council election and a contest for a fire commissioner in a Marysville-area district.

The Brier recount will happen first.

Each team is made up of one representative of the Snohomish County Democratic Party and one from county Republicans.

If the pairs can’t agree on the count or if they can’t determine voter intent on any ballots, those ballots go for review by the county canvassing board, made up of the county auditor, the county prosecuting attorney and the chairman of the County Council.

Edmonds Councilman Ron Wambolt, who watched the recount that eliminated him in the August primary, describes the proceedings this way:

“There will be tables at which pairs will review each precinct. They will stack each ballot by candidate and then count the stacks. If the count is different than the original count, they count it again until they get the same count twice.

“Observers are free to watch but not allowed to touch ballots or to talk with the reviewers. Questions must be directed to the supervisory staff. I felt it was a fair process.”

The strange politics of appointing a prosecutor

When the Snohomish County Council meets next week to pick an interim county prosecuting attorney, it will choose between a loyal Democrat recommended by Party officials and an experienced member of the prosecutor’s office.

Since retiring Prosecutor Janice Ellis was elected as a Democrat, the county Democratic Committee got to recommend three candidates, from which the council can make the appointment.

Ellis has recommended longtime deputy Mark Roe, but he finished second to Fire Commissioner Jim Kenny in a recent vote of Democratic precinct committee officers. Roe was apparently hurt among PCOs by his association with Ellis, who had supported Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna and Republican King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg and backed a bill in the Legislature to make the prosecuting attorney a non-partisan office.

County Council Chairman Mike Cooper, a Democrat, said Tuesday that the council faced an “interesting” decision.

Evan Smith can be reached at schsmith@verizon.net.