EVERETT — November’s general election results were officially chiseled in stone Tuesday by Snohomish County’s Canvassing Board, barring one required recount.
The race for position 7 on the Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue Commission will be sent to a hand recount.
Incumbent Troy Elmore received just 14 more votes than opponent Bill Wirtz in a race with more than 34,000 votes cast.
Elections Manager Matthew Pangburn said the identification and recounting of ballots will begin Monday. He estimated it will take about a week to finish the process.
No other recounts were required, so the canvassing board comprising of Deputy Auditor Connie Barndt, County Council Chair Jared Mead and Prosecuting Attorney Jason Cummings certified the results of this month’s election.
In total, 185,738 ballots were counted. The overall turnout was 36.2%.
More than 1,500 voters turned in a ballot late, 597 signatures on ballots didn’t match those on file and 97 voters didn’t sign their ballot at all.
A few other ballots were thrown out because the voter was dead or the envelope was empty. In total, 2,421 ballots were challenged.
Pangburn said challenges were significantly decreased compared to 2021, when 3,135 ballots faced challenges.
This year, the office gave voters additional notice about challenged ballots, he said, and more people took advantage of the chance to fix their ballot.
About 60% of voters returned their ballots through county drop boxes, with the rest using the postal service.
In the high-profile race for sheriff, Susanna Johnson’s victory was confirmed over incumbent Adam Fortney, with a difference of more than 5,700 votes.
In other county races, incumbents held their positions. County Executive Dave Somers’s third and final term in office was made official and County Council member Megan Dunn’s re-election bid was secured.
County Auditor Garth Fell’s re-election was certified as well, winning more than 32,000 votes than his opponent, Cindy Gobel.
After a previous close call, incumbent Vincent Cavaleri will retain his seat on the Mill Creek City Council without a required recount. He edged out his opponent Tannis Golebiewski by 82 votes.
Jenelle Baumbach: 360-352-8623; jenelle.baumbach@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @jenelleclar.
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