EVERETT — A single vote separated Brier City Councilman Dennis Nick from challenger Mike Gallagher after the Nov. 3 general election.
That means Snohomish County elections officials are required to count the ballots by hand, which they’ll do beginning at 9 a.m. today.
Election results had Nick leading Gallagher 992 votes to 991.
Elections officials also will conduct a hand recount of the Fire District 12 position 3 Board of Commissioners race between Marilyn Sheldon and Iris Lilly, where 10 votes separate the candidates.
State law requires machine recounts when the difference between candidates is less than one half of 1 percent and fewer than 2,000 votes.
Hand recounts are required when that difference is one quarter of 1 percent and fewer than 150 votes.
Ballots will be counted by teams of two, said elections manager Garth Fell. He said unofficial results will be made public this afternoon.
The canvassing board is expected to certify results Monday.
“There is a potential, during the recount process, that if there is as ballot where the voter’s intent is not clear, that ballot would go to the canvassing board for them to determine (voter) intent,” Fell said.
Oscar Halpert: 425-339-3429, ohalpert@heraldnet.com.
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