Clark County’s hand recount in public lands race ends with one more vote for Herrera Beutler

Clark County Elections officials reported Tuesday there were no major changes to the race for public lands commissioner in the county after conducting a manual recount of the Aug. 6 primary results.

The state directed a hand recount after the final tally left the No. 2 and 3 candidates in the commissioner of public lands race separated by just 51 votes, or 0.0064 percent.

The recount will determine who will face former 3rd District Republican Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, who secured her first-place finish with 22 percent of the vote. Sue Kuehl Pederson and Dave Upthegrove garnered 20.82 percent of the vote each.

This is the first statewide recount in a primary election since 1960 and the closest race in the history of Washington’s primary, according to the Secretary of State’s office.

In Washington, a machine recount is required for races with a difference of 2,000 votes and less than 0.5 percent, and a manual recount is required with a difference of 1,000 votes and less than 0.25 percent.

In Clark County, all 136,974 ballots cast in the Aug. 6 primary and special election were accounted for and verified during the manual recount, according to Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey.

There were seven ballots tabulated during the recount that differed from the original results. All variances were due to voters not filling out their ballots correctly.

Corrections to these ballots led to Herrera Beutler gaining one vote.

Three ballots saw voters cross out a candidate’s name without selecting another choice. Those votes were initially counted for a candidate. After the manual recount, the three votes were removed from the candidate.

Another three ballots saw voters who did not use a black or dark blue pen as stated on voter instructions. Instead, boxes were marked in pencil and green ink, and ballot tabulators failed to record them. The three ballots have since been attributed to the correct candidate.

Lastly, one ballot saw a voter mark two candidates. The voter then indicated in writing which candidate they wanted to vote for, but the ballot was not adjudicated properly. The ballot has since been attributed to the correct candidate.

“A manual recount is the best test of the integrity of the elections administrative process,” Kimsey said Tuesday after the Clark County Canvassing Board certified the results of the recount. “This recount, like all others here in Clark County, has demonstrated that the voting system software and hardware accurately tabulates votes on ballots and that humans make errors. So, thankfully, the process here results in a very small change in the total ballots recorded for any one candidate.”

The Secretary of State’s office is expected to certify the election Wednesday.