Election Mix-Up Means School Board Winner Really Isn’t

Patricia Blair probably feels like Bob Dole in those Visa commercials. Like the former presidential candidate, she just can’t win.

Blair was told by Spokane County elections officials Wednesday morning that she had beaten incumbent Janet Hansen for her seat on the Riverside School Board.

She hadn’t. County elections supervisor Tom Wilbur called Blair around noon and told her that Hansen was the real winner.

Hansen’s name was listed first on the election ballot followed by Blair’s. But the names were flip-flopped on the election result sheets when they were counted.

Hansen was officially declared the winner with 1,291 votes to 911 for Blair.

“I’d like to know how that could possibly happen,” Blair said.

Wilbur called it an “honest mistake.”

Hansen has now beaten Blair twice in the last month in election matters.

In October, election officials had to flip a coin to see which of the two candidates would be listed first on the ballot because the two finished in a tie for first place with 263 votes each in September’s primary.

Hansen won the coin toss.

On Wednesday, Blair said she received calls of support all day from her backers.

“I’m in total disbelief right now,” said Blair, who sounded composed under the circumstances. “There has been a total acceptance (of her supposed win) and joy in the neighborhood and at the schools.

“It’s hard to believe that I don’t have the acceptance of the people.”

Hansen, the board’s chairwoman, could not be reached for comment.

The Riverside District is home to four schools with combined enrollments of roughly 2,200.

, DataTimes