Pair of races too close to call

Two local races remain too close to call just one week after last Tuesday’s general election.

On the West Plains, the state 6th District House of Representative Position 2 contest between Dave Wilson and Jenny Graham remains close, with Graham increasing her election-night lead slightly. As of Nov. 12, the Republican had increased her margin from 250 to 825 votes over her Democratic challenger, leading 50.61 percent to 49.24.

Meanwhile, in the race for Spokane County Assessor, Leonard Christian held a razor-thin 754-vote margin over opponent Tom Konis, leading 49.18 to 48.71 percent.

Whether or not a recount on either race would be conducted was not certain at press time on Tuesday, Nov. 13.

“We will not know about a recount until the election is certified on Nov. 27,” county elections supervisor Mike McLaughlin said in an email. “If the difference between the two candidates is less than one-half of 1 percent, an automatic recount is required.”

According to the Washington Secretary of State’s website, as of Nov. 12, an estimated 24,000 ballots remained to be counted in Spokane County.

Meanwhile the outcome of other contests was more clear. In the 6th District state Senate race, Republican Jeff Holy had increased his election night lead over Democrat Jessa Lewis to 55.05 percent from 54.60 percent. In the other state House contest, incumbent Republican Mike Volz increased his margin over Democratic challenger Kay Murano from 53.19 percent to 53.65 percent.

In the race for Spokane County Commissioner District 3 — representing the West Plains as well as west Spokane — incumbent Al French had increased his margin over Democratic challenger Robbi Anthony to 56.69 percent from 56.26 percent.

Republicans were also leading in other contests affecting West Plains and southwest Spokane County representation. In the 9th District, incumbent Mary Dye was well ahead of her challenger for House Position 1, Jenn Goulet, 76.01 – 23.89 percent while incumbent Joe Schmick was leading challenger Matthew Sutherland 73.52 – 26.27 percent.

Republican incumbents were also well on their way to re-election in the 7th District. Shelly Short led Karen Hardy 66.61 – 33.22 percent in the race for the district’s Senate seat while Jacquelin Maycumber was ahead of Randall Michaelis 64.57 – 35.26 percent for House Position 1 and Joel Kretz led Mike Bell 64.55 – 35.28 for House Position 2.

As of Nov. 12, 64.42 percent of voters had turned in ballots in Spokane County — the highest turnout for a presidential mid-term election since the 71.29 percent in 2010.

Statewide, Garfield County led in voter turnout at 82.62 percent, followed by Jefferson at 82.20 percent, San Juan at 81.43 percent and Wahkiakum at 80.36 percent. Of the more populous counties, King was at 72.88 percent, followed by Snohomish at 69.53 percent, Clark at 67.64 and then Spokane.

Statewide turnout was 66.37, with more than 2.89 million of 4.36 million registered voters casting ballots.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].