EVERETT — Snohomish County election officials this week expect to begin figuring out if two Republican write-in candidates garnered enough votes to make the ballot in November.
Workers must comb through hundreds of ballots cast in the legislative districts where Kevin Morrison of Edmonds and Mark Davies of Bothell are vying for a state office.
The two men will know by Aug. 21 if they received at least 1 percent of the vote which is the minimum needed to qualify. That date is the deadline for the county to certify results of the primary election.
Their chances appear to be pretty good, as the unspecified write-in votes account for far more than 1 percent in their respective contests.
Morrison campaigned in the 21st Legislative District where he is looking to challenge state Rep. Marko Liias, D-Edmonds. As of Thursday, the write-in box was checked on 5.2 percent of the 11,119 ballots cast.
Davies is running against state Rep. Luis Moscoso, D-Mountlake Terrace, in the 1st Legislative District which covers areas of Snohomish and King counties. As of Thursday, write-ins made up 6.2 percent of the 12,365 ballots tallied.
The last time a write-in candidate qualified for a general election was in 2010 when Democrat Laura Lewis of Stanwood satisfied the requirement in the 10th Legislative District. She went on to lose in November by a wide margin to state Rep. Norma Smith, R-Clinton.
Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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