EVERETT — Mason Thompson will be joining the Bothell City Council after a hand recount completed Wednesday confirmed his five-vote victory over Leigh Henderson in last month’s election.
Thompson finished with 5,807 votes following separate recounts conducted by election workers in King and Snohomish counties. Bothell lies partly in each county.
The contest is one of three in Snohomish County that wound up so close as to require ballots be tallied again by hand.
The others involve seats on the Everett School Board and the South County Regional Fire Authority. Results of those are expected Thursday.
In the Bothell race, Henderson, owner of Alexa’s Cafe, enjoyed an 86-vote lead on election night Nov. 5 but the lead dissipated in the ensuing days.
On Nov. 21, Thompson, an account manager at a software company in Redmond, went in front for the first time.
He wound up with a five-vote advantage when the last ballots were tallied Nov. 26. State law mandates hand recounts be done if the final margin is less than 0.25%.
Snohomish County completed its portion Wednesday and the numbers did not change. It was the same story last week in King County.
In the final tallies, Thompson finished with an advantage of 2,321 to 2,157 in Snohomish County while in King County, Henderson beat Thompson,3,645 to 3,486.
With the win, Thompson will succeed Andy Rheaume in Position 2 on the City Council.
Final results for the three recounts in Snohomish County are scheduled to be certified Friday.
Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@herald net.com. Twitter: @dospueblos.
