PORT TOWNSEND – A recount in a Fire Protection District No. 1 race and another election in a bid for a water district seat in Coyle are planned in Jefferson County after the canvassing board’s final tally of the Nov. 6 general election on Tuesday.
The canvassing board counted 24 additional ballots, which came from voters who had fixed problems with their challenged ballots before Monday’s deadline.
The overall voter turnout was 62.18, with 13,013 ballots returned of the 20,928 sent out.
A machine recount is planned at 8 a.m. Dec. 3 for the position 1 commission seat in Fire Protection District No. 1.
The margin was slim.
Zane Wyll had 1,892 votes, or 49.97 percent, and Pete Langley had 1,881 votes, or 49.68 percent.
The two candidates had been neck-and-neck since the first vote count on Nov. 6, with subsequent counts narrowing the spread.
Neither candidate was available for comment Tuesday.
Jefferson County Auditor Donna Eldridge expects no change.
“We truly believe it’s going to be the same,” she said.
That’s because the ballot tabulator was tested and has been found to tabulate perfectly, she said.
State law requires a machine recount if the vote spread between two candidates falls within 0.25 percent.
