The Sno-Isle Regional Library System tax levy has passed after all, but some election races could go into overtime after 31,133 absentee votes were counted in Snohomish County on Friday, Nov. 7.
Recounts could take place in some races, but county officials couldn’t say exactly which ones yet.
In the highest-profile race in the county, state Sen. Aaron Reardon won the race for county executive with 60,445 votes, compared with Edmonds City Councilman Dave Earling’s 55,927.
Reardon got the most votes in 12 of the county’s 20 cities and towns. He ran up some of his biggest numbers in Everett, where he carried more than 60 percent of the vote. He also won the most votes in the county’s unincorporated north and south ends.
Earling took the most votes in his hometown, but the margin of victory was thin, only 132 votes. Similar patterns were repeated in other places Earling carried, including Arlington, Bothell, Stanwood and Sultan. In Monroe, for example, the candidates were separated by just 10 votes.
County elections manager Carolyn Diepenbrock said about 2,000 questionable ballots will be counted next week. The election is to be certified Wednesday, Nov. 19.
Of Snohomish County’s 325,063 registered voters, only 123,101 voted in the Nov. 4 general election, less than 38 percent.
Voters saved the library system from having to make service and staff cuts next year. The measure was leading 52,879 to 49,748 as of Nov. 7. It needs a 50 percent majority to win.
“I’m cautiously optimistic that the levy measure has passed,” said Jonalyn Woolf-Ivory, library system director. “We were really hoping for this, because we did not want to reduce services, and we’re hoping we won’t have to.”
The library system asked voters to approve a levy lid lift and return the property tax assessment to 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. State law limits the levy rate to that amount.
Under the higher rate, the owner of a $200,000 home would pay $100 — about $8 more a year than the current levy amount.
“I’m very pleased. We’ve got a lot of people who use the library daily, so I think they’ll be pleased,” Woolf-Ivory said.
Steve Powell is assistant city editor for The Herald in Everett.
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