Talbott Still On Top After Latest Count School Board Race Of Barlow, Mccann Remains Too Close To Call

John Talbott will be Spokane’s next mayor, absentee ballots confirmed Monday.

Incumbent Jack Geraghty inched closer to Talbott as about 3,600 mail-in ballots were counted in city races.

Closer, but not close enough.

Talbott holds a 433-vote lead over Geraghty, collecting about 50.3 percent of the vote. That’s enough to withstand any mathematically plausible turnaround in the remaining absentee ballots.

Despite all the odds in his favor, Talbott wasn’t ready to proclaim victory. “When they certify the votes, I’ll count myself the winner,” Talbott said. “Until then, I’m still a candidate.”

Attempts to reach Mayor Jack Geraghty on Monday were unsuccessful. He is at the Japan-American Conference of Mayors and Chambers of Commerce in Honolulu.

The trip is being paid for by private donations.

In another close Spokane race, Don Barlow holds a 166-vote lead over Joanne McCann for a seat on the District 81 School Board. The race is so close it likely will require an automatic recount regardless of the eventual winner, county Elections Supervisor Tom Wilbur said.

Wilbur estimated that as many as 1,500 city ballots have been returned to the courthouse and have not been opened, verified and readied for the computer to count.

Another 5,000 ballots from outside the city of Spokane also are being processed.

Wilbur said he isn’t sure when the next count of absentee ballots will take place. Today’s a holiday, so county workers won’t resume processing the ballots until Wednesday.

The county has until Nov. 19 to report its final results. Any ballot that comes in before that date and is postmarked before midnight Nov. 4 will be processed.

Absentee ballots must be checked for correct signatures, opened and cleared of any pieces of computer card hanging from the punched holes.

The county canvassing board must rule on any ballots on which the signatures are questionable.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: TALBOTT STILL ON TOP Spokane mayor Final, unofficial (some absentee ballots still to be counted)

CANDIDATE VOTES PCT. *John Talbott 27,668 50.3% Jack Geraghty 27,235 49.6%

The following fields overflowed: BYLINE = Jim Camden Staff writer Staff writer Kristina Johnson contributed to this story.