Election certified; 1 recount ordered

Spokane County elections officials ordered a recount in one close race Tuesday after a meeting that certified all the results for the Nov. 7 general election.

The recount in the 6th Legislative District race between Democrat Don Barlow and incumbent Rep. John Serben was expected, so the certification, which is required by law, went off without any surprises.

That wasn’t the case in some Western Washington counties, where a winter storm made some roads impassable and closed some government offices. Skagit and San Juan counties, which were among the hardest hit, struggled to find a way to bring together the three county officials – one person each from the county auditor and county prosecutor offices and a county commissioner – that the law requires.

At the end of the business day, it was uncertain whether they’d found a way to meet or at least certify their election results through a teleconference, Nick Handy, elections director for the secretary of state’s office, said.

There’s no provision in state law to extend the certification deadline, but Handy said county officials were told that if results did not get certified and reported by Tuesday, they would be accepted today.

“Who would’ve thought we’d have a once-in-100-year rainstorm on election day … and a severe snowstorm on the day for the certification deadline?” Handy said.

The Barlow-Serben race, in which Barlow leads by 266 votes out of some 52,000 cast, apparently is one of only two in the state that requires a recount, Handy said. The other is a Wahkiakum County commissioner’s race, where independent Mark Linquist leads Democrat Blair Brady by one vote, 890 to 889.

Spokane County elections workers will begin sorting ballots from the 6th District on Thursday and the recount is expected Friday morning.

Spokane’s next-closest race, between Democrat Bonnie Mager and three-term Republican incumbent Phil Harris, ended with Mager ahead by 1,382 votes out of nearly 149,000 cast.

That race was so close that Harris waited to concede defeat, and Mager to claim victory, until Tuesday. Mager attributed her win to a strong cadre of dedicated volunteers and promised to deliver on campaign promises of open government and sustainable economic development and growth.