SEATTLE — Tuesday marked the final day for all Washington counties to report voting numbers before the state’s certification deadline Friday, Aug. 23.
In the Washington state public lands commissioner race, Democrat Dave Upthegrove leads by a thin margin over Republican Sue Kuehl Pederson. Upthegrove and Pederson are battling for the second and final general election spot against Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler, who garnered 22% of the votes (419,297 votes).
Tuesday’s results listed Upthegrove with 396,300 votes against Pederson’s 396,249 – a difference of just 51 votes.
This margin leads to a statewide recount of votes by hand.
Washington's Assistant Secretary of State Kevin McMahan will certify the election by Friday. Following this, each county canvassing board will be directed and will receive notice to recount the votes, according to the Office of the Secretary of State.
In Washington state primaries, the top two candidates who receive the most votes in any given race advance to the general election, regardless of party.
Upthegrove said he isn't expecting a recount to change the outcome.
“Every county has certified the election results in the race for Lands Commissioner, and I am excited to finish in second place and begin my general election campaign,” he said in a statement. “The 51 vote margin of victory will trigger an automatic statewide hand recount, but our campaign is moving full speed ahead toward November.”
KING 5 has reached out to Pederson for comment.
In a race too close to call, even two weeks after Election Day, candidates and their supporters spent recent days calling and knocking on the doors of voters with rejected but “curable” ballots.
Upthegrove said this made all the difference in the result.
“I am incredibly thankful for the hundreds of volunteers who worked with our campaign this past week to help voters fix issues with their ballots so that their votes would count,” he said. “This heroic ‘ballot curing’ effort involved more than 350 active volunteers who made thousands of phone calls and door knocks to reach voters with challenged ballots. In a race this close, it made the difference.”
Five Democrats and two Republicans ran in the primary for lands commissioner, prompting some political analysts to note the possibility that the general could end with two Republicans—Herrera Beutler and Pederson—going head-to-head. Now, a recount will determine the two candidates facing off in November.
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 both less than 1,000 votes and less than one-fourth of 1%, which is the margin between Upthegrove and Pederson.
How does a recount work?
Each county election office will complete the recount of ballots from their area and Washington state will reimburse each county for all costs associated with this mandatory recount under state law.
The expected completion date for the recount is approximately Sept. 3 or 4.
"We're in full recount planning mode. That means we are hiring and preparing to bring back in staff,” said Julie Wise, the director of elections in King County.
Wise said her team will recount nearly 600,000 votes by hand.
“That’s going to look like a team of 100 people working in teams of two,” Wise said. King County will start recounting on Monday and will likely take a week to finish.
“It's been 20 years since we've had a statewide recount here in Washington state,” Wise said. “So back in 2004. It's been some 60-plus years since we've had a statewide recount in a primary election."
Wise said this proves that every vote counts.
"It's so critically important to show up for every single election your vote does matter and does impact, ultimately, these races, even in a primary election,” she said.