OLYMPIA, Wash. — Democrat Dave Upthegrove will advance to the general election in the race for Washington state's commissioner of public lands following a hand recount of primary ballots.
The results were certified by the Washington Secretary of State's Office on Wednesday.
Upthegrove and Republican Sue Kuehl Pederson were separated by 51 votes after the August primary election, sparking the first statewide recount in a primary since 1960.
Just 49 votes separated Upthegrove and Kuehl Pederson after the recount was completed.
Upthegrove advances to the general along with Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler, who received the most votes during the August primary. The top two vote-getters in the primary advance to the November general election.
The Washington secretary of state's website said a machine recount is required when there is a 2,000-vote difference between candidates or less than half of 1% of the total number of votes cast for both candidates.
However, a statewide hand recount is required when the difference between the two candidates is less than 1,000 votes and less than one-fourth of 1%, which was the margin between Upthegrove and Pederson.
The commissioner of public lands heads the Department of Natural Resources, overseeing the management of more than 5 million acres of state land. The commissioner also manages the state's on-call fire department, which works to prevent and fight wildfires on 13 million acres of private, state and tribal-owned land.
The commissioner serves a four-year term.
Stuart Holmes, Washington's director of elections, said that the recount proves the accuracy of Washington's election system.
"Regardless of the variance totals, the county administrators had a 99.9 and beyond percent accuracy. So, phenomenal effort..." he said.
Republican Party Chair Jim Walsh expressed concerns, however.
"We believe that in a number of those cases, votes that should be counted, were not counted," he said, adding they're not sure "there was necessarily malfeasance or anything," but the Republican party is "concerned about the process and how these cured ballots were, in some cases, rejected."
How does a recount work?
Each county election office completes the recount of ballots from their area. Washington state will reimburse each county for all costs associated with this mandatory recount under state law.
In King County, about 100 people were re-hired to help with the recount.
Runners bring boxes containing 250 ballots to the counters. The boxes are sealed with a tamper evidence seal, which has a unique number on it and is logged onto the batch itself.
The pair counts the box, going through every ballot. If the ballots are correct, they move on. If there is a discrepancy, the pair recounts the box.
There are also other observers in the room to watch the process. These include up to two observers from the campaigns and four observers from both major parties.