2 county races too close to call; recounts required

All Spokane County ballots have been counted, but some will have to be counted again because a pair of races are so close.

Vicki Krogseth Sellers has a lead of two votes over Bill Adams in the race for a seat on the Freeman School board. Krogseth Sellers finished with a total of 742 votes to Adams’ 740. That’s close enough for a mandatory hand recount under state law.

Sheri Rhoads has a two-vote lead over Marvin Davis in the race for a seat on the Spokane County Fire District 5 board. She has 233 votes; he has 231. Because there are fewer votes cast in that district, the margin is larger and state law calls for a machine recount.

Another race in that fire district is close, but not close enough for a mandatory recount. In that contest, Todd Lehman topped Greg Lucht by six votes, 231 to 225, which puts the race outside the one-half of 1 percent margin that triggers a recount under state law.

Recounts have not yet been scheduled, but will likely be held Friday, said Paul Brandt, a spokesman for the Elections Department. The results will be certified at 1 p.m. today by the canvassing board.

The final count turned up no surprises or changes in results reported earlier. A proposal to increase the sales tax countywide by one-tenth of a cent failed by fewer than 300 votes out of more than 129,000 cast.

Wendy Van Orman won the Liberty Lake mayor’s race, defeating incumbent Steve Peterson by a tally of 966 to 905.

Spokane’s mayor’s race narrowed but still finished with Mary Verner comfortably ahead, with 52 percent of the votes compared with about 48 percent for incumbent Dennis Hession. Verner will be sworn in this evening at 5:30 in Ballroom A of the Spokane Convention Center. State law says she takes office as soon as the results are certified because Hession was appointed to the office rather than elected.

Spokane Council President Joe Shogan and Councilman-elect Steve Corker also will start their terms immediately. Shogan was appointed to the council president post after Hession was appointed mayor, and Corker is replacing Rob Crow, who was appointed to Shogan’s seat. They will be sworn in at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in the City Council chambers in the basement of City Hall. Councilman-elect Richard Rush will be sworn in after Jan. 1 because he replaces Brad Stark, who was elected to the seat in 2003.