Sidran gains ground, but Nickels confident

Associated Press

SEATTLE — The city’s mayoral race remained too close to call on Friday as King County Councilman Greg Nickels’ lead over City Attorney Mark Sidran narrowed by more than 2,300 votes.

With up to 70,000 absentee ballots remaining to be counted, Nickels led Sidran by 4,891 votes, 56,930 to 52,039, according to King County elections officials.

Nickels had led by 7,200 votes — 54 percent to 46 percent — on election night. Friday’s tally of 18,000 additional absentee ballots narrowed the lead to about 52 percent for Nickels and 48 percent for Sidran.

"I am hopeful about the trend we’re seeing," Sidran said. "While there are still tens of thousands of ballots to be counted, we seem to be gaining ground and are within the range to win. But we have to let the process work itself out and wait for the ballots to be counted."

Nickels’ campaign manager, Marco Lowe, said he saw nothing worrisome in the new numbers.

"This is the trend we expected and predicted," he said, adding that the campaign expects the next tally, on Tuesday, to show Nickels’ lead closer to the one he enjoyed on election night, since it will include a larger sample of absentee voters.

Earlier absentee ballots tend to be more conservative, King County elections superintendent Julie Anne Kempf said earlier this week.

Sidran, who as city attorney has taken strong law-and-order stances on panhandling, nightclubs and other issues, was performing well among early absentees.

Sidran received a boost from absentees in the primary election, where they put him ahead of Nickels by about 400 votes.

Both candidates for the nonpartisan office far outdistanced incumbent Mayor Paul Schell in the primary election. Schell’s administration was criticized for its handling of the destructive protests surrounding the 1999 World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle, as well as Mardi Gras riots earlier this year that left one man dead.

Throughout the campaign, voters appeared ambivalent about the choice between Nickels and Sidran.

Sidran, whose support of "civility laws" has angered civil libertarians, presented himself as the strong leader Seattle needs to bring it out of rocky times.

Nickels, whose work on the troubled Sound Transit light rail project was roundly criticized by Sidran, has offered himself as the candidate who understands the consensus-building "Seattle way," and local priorities.

Friday’s release was a partial tally of absentee ballots received Tuesday through Thursday afternoon. Counties may continue counting votes through next week.