Western Australia Secretary of State approves recount of votes in Public Lands Commissioner primary election

WASHINGTON STATE — The Washington Secretary of State has officially certified the results of the statewide hand recount in the primary election for Commissioner of Public Lands.

The Secretary of State’s office confirmed that Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler and Democrat Dave Upthegrove will advance to the November general election.

The recount showed a 49-vote margin separating Upthegrove in second place and Republican Sue Kuehl Pederson in third. Before the recount, the margin was 51 votes, according to the secretary of state’s office.

“After combining the corrected results certified by each county board of elections, Upthegrove received four votes and Pederson received six votes,” the Secretary of State said.

Deviations such as too few or too many votes were detected during the manual recount, leading to an official change in the vote count.

“This recount was a significant undertaking that required meticulous attention to detail to ensure that every vote was counted fairly and accurately,” said Deputy Secretary of State Kevin McMahan. “It demonstrates the accuracy and credibility of Washington’s elections, as vote-counting equipment accurately counted votes, with few outliers resulting from questions about voter intent. I commend all counties for their diligent efforts to maintain a transparent and secure process that reflects the will of the voters.”

The results released in August marked the tightest race in Washington primary history.

The secretary of state announced that ballots for the November general election will be mailed to voters by October 18.

The Washington state Republican Party suggested Wednesday night that it might file a legal challenge to the results, saying the hand recount, which was observed by observers from both parties, left too many unanswered questions.

“WAGOP is leaving all options open in its response to today’s certification from the WA Secretary of State. The party could file lawsuits challenging the certification. It could also file lawsuits challenging the recounts in specific counties. Or the party could focus on improving its recount processes in the future,” the statement read.

Both Herrera Beutler and Upthegrove said they are excited to move forward and begin to discuss their differences as candidates. The former Republican congresswoman and King County Council chairwoman will likely have a long conversation about ways to curb wildfires, which have engulfed the state like never before.

“It was a nail-biting match, but we’re racing full steam ahead into November. I’m grateful to all the election monitors. The process was transparent, professional and fair, and I’m ready to move forward,” Upthegrove said. As for his opponent, the council chairman added: “I’m committed to stewarding our public lands in the public interest of a broad swath of Washingtonians. My opponent has historically championed narrow corporate economic interests.”

Herrera Beutler was campaigning Wednesday when the results were announced. The former congresswoman said she was in rural Washington and hopped on a ZOOM call with KOMO News at a time when cell phone reception was good to say, “I think Dave Upthegrove represents the status quo that has been in our state for about 15 years. Throw it away. Throw it away. Don’t manage it. Don’t manage it. What we’ve seen from neglect is worse and more catastrophic fires. We’re seeing habitat and species deteriorating. We’re just talking about endangered species, and there are more endangered and conscripted species today than there were 10 years ago, 15 years ago, and I think it’s time to change the way we manage that.”

King County Elections says it hand-counted more than 559,000 votes and found only 18 discrepancies, mostly due to blank or crossed-out bubbles on ballots. Upthegrove ultimately came in four fewer votes in King County.

In addition, election supervisors hand-counted two Democratic county commission seats. Two races in Seattle and Shoreline were still tied, and Elections Director Julie Wise flipped a coin to determine the winner. Timea Tihanyi and Bradley Cabe were declared the winners. Neither was present for the coin toss.

To learn more about the Secretary of State’s recount process, click this link.