The push for a recount in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District race has yielded little change in its outcome, a fact further solidified after its most populous county submitted its tallies.
Clark County Elections on Thursday reported its unofficial recount of undervotes, which confirmed Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez defeated Republican Joe Kent in their battle to represent Southwest Washington.
When the undervotes were examined, Perez gained six votes and Kent gained two. Two ballots found during Don Benton’s recount, one vote each for both congressional candidates, will also be added to the recount. Now, Perez leads with 112,996 votes, or 55.10 percent, to Kent’s 90,805 votes, or 44.28 percent, in Clark County.
Clark County’s canvassing board will meet Tuesday afternoon to confirm the recount results.
Kent requested a machine recount following the secretary of state’s original election certification, for which he provided a security deposit of 15 cents per ballot, or $48,589.05 for 323,927 total ballots cast.
Elections offices throughout the 3rd District — Clark, Cowlitz, Lewis, Pacific, Skamania and Wahkiakum counties and a portion of Thurston County — conduct machine recounts at different times.
Cowlitz County certified its recount Tuesday, which showed that each candidate gained one vote in the county.
The Thurston County Elections Office reported its unofficial recount Thursday, which showed one additional vote in Kent’s favor. The county canvassing board will certify its findings Friday morning.
In Pacific and Wahkiakum counties, there were no changes to their tallies, according to each respective county auditor.
The Lewis County canvassing board will convene this morning to perform the county’s machine recount, followed by certification shortly after. Skamania County will begin its machine recount Tuesday morning, with its canvassing board slated to gather the following day to confirm its results.
Once all counties submit their certified recounts, the Washington Secretary of State will recertify the final results. An election cannot be recertified more than twice.
