It may be an understatement to say the race for Shoreline City Council Position 3 is a close one — only one vote separates incumbent Paul Grace and challenger Janet Way.
As of Wednesday morning, The Enterprise deadline, Way led by one vote, with 7,119 votes; Grace had 7,118 votes.
“I thought it would be pretty close, but I didn’t expect it to be quite like this,” Way said. “I kept saying to people ‘I wish I had another two weeks’ and here I am getting another two weeks.”
Way, a 17-year resident who describes herself as a community activist, was hopeful the trend would continue and said she is delighted to have voter support. Way was defeated in her City Council bid two years ago.
“I am very optimistic that things are moving in the right direction,” Way said. “And especially for my supporters, particularly Friends of Fircrest, small business owners and people in the environmental community and neighborhoods.”
Way said because she is the only candidate from the east side of the city, that likely was a factor in her vote results.
Grace, who has been on the Council for 21 months after being appointed when Linda Montgomery relocated, is hopeful he will take the lead and is confident he is the best choice to serve on the Council.
Grace said he worked extremely hard campaigning, much harder than expected. Grace has lived in Shoreline for 20 years with his family and served on the Shoreline School Board from 1996-2001.
“I still think I am the best person to represent all of Shoreline,” Grace said, “and I will wait for certification results from the county in the next couple of days.”
Bobbie Egan, spokesperson for King County elections, said the election will be certified on Tuesday, Nov. 29. She said in two instances a recount could be required: a machine recount is required if the difference in votes between two candidates is less than 2,000 or less than half of 1 percent of total votes. A manual recount would be required if the difference in votes between the two is less than 150 votes.
“We would have to do the math, but it sounds like it,” Egan said about the possibility of a recount in the race. “And again, we wouldn’t call it or announce a recount until Nov. 29.”
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