Just twelve votes now separate Emily Randall and Marty McClendon in 26th LD Senate race

New elec­tion returns in Wash­ing­ton’s 26th Leg­isla­tive Dis­trict are pro­vid­ing fresh proof that each and every vote real­ly does matter.

As of this evening, a mere twelve votes sep­a­rate Demo­c­ra­t­ic con­tender Emi­ly Ran­dall from Repub­li­can Mar­ty McClen­don in Wash­ing­ton’s 26th Leg­isla­tive Dis­trict. The win­ner of the con­test will head to the Wash­ing­ton State Sen­ate for a four-year term. The los­ing can­di­date will be rue­ful­ly wish­ing their cam­paign’s get out the vote effort had been at least a smidgeon stronger for a long time to come.

Ran­dall, the Demo­c­ra­t­ic Par­ty’s stan­dard-bear­er, is back in the lead fol­low­ing today’s drop after falling behind late last week. She led on Elec­tion Night by a few hun­dred votes and was able to main­tain that lead until Fri­day, when Repub­li­can McClen­don over­took her. Yes­ter­day, Ran­dall cut into his lead. Today, she erased it entirely.

Ran­dall and McClen­don are now effec­tive­ly tied. Ran­dall has 34,279 votes, or 50.01%, while McClen­don has 34,267 votes, or 49.99%.

State leg­isla­tive races real­ly don’t get any clos­er than this.

Ran­dall is win­ning the Kit­sap Coun­ty por­tion of the dis­trict, which includes Port Orchard, South­worth, and part of Bre­mer­ton. McClen­don is win­ning the Pierce Coun­ty por­tion, which includes Gig Har­bor, Point Fos­dick, and the Key Peninsula.

With the num­ber of bal­lots left to count dwin­dling, it appears this race will go to an auto­mat­ic recount. Cour­tesy of the Sec­re­tary of State, here is a run­down of the pro­ce­dure for auto­mat­ic recounts in non-statewide races like this one:

Manda­to­ry Recounts for non-statewide races: 

• A machine recount is required when the dif­fer­ence between the top two can­di­dates is less than 2,000 votes AND ALSO less than ¹⁄₂ of 1% of the total num­ber of votes cast for both candidates.
• A man­u­al recount is required when the dif­fer­ence between the top two can­di­dates is less than 150 votes AND ALSO less than ¹⁄₄ of 1% of the total votes cast for both candidates.

Non-Manda­to­ry Recounts: A recount may be request­ed as fol­lows, even if the dif­fer­ence between the top two can­di­dates does not meet the manda­to­ry recount thresholds:

• An appli­ca­tion for a recount of the votes cast must be filed with the elec­tions offi­cer with whom fil­ings are made for the juris­dic­tion. For exam­ple, can­di­dates for offices that encom­pass mul­ti­ple coun­ties file with the Sec­re­tary of State. The appli­ca­tion must be filed with­in three busi­ness days after certification.
• An offi­cer of a polit­i­cal par­ty or any per­son for whom votes were cast at any elec­tion may file a writ­ten appli­ca­tion for a recount of the votes or a por­tion of the votes cast at that elec­tion for all can­di­dates for elec­tion to that office.
• Any group of five or more reg­is­tered vot­ers may file a writ­ten appli­ca­tion for a recount of the votes or a por­tion of the votes cast upon any ques­tion or issue.
• Any qual­i­fied indi­vid­ual or group of reg­is­tered vot­ers request­ing a recount is required to, at the time of sub­mit­ting the appli­ca­tion for a recount, sub­mit a deposit, by cash or cer­ti­fied check, to the coun­ty can­vass­ing board or the Sec­re­tary of State as follows: 
  • For a machine recount — fif­teen cents for each bal­lot cast in the juris­dic­tion or por­tion of the juris­dic­tion for which the recount is requested.
  • For a man­u­al recount — twen­ty-five cents for each bal­lot cast in the juris­dic­tion or por­tion of the juris­dic­tion for which the recount is requested.

This con­test cur­rent­ly qual­i­fies for a man­u­al recount under RCW 29A.64.021. That means elec­tion work­ers in Kit­sap and Pierce coun­ties will have to inspect each bal­lot by hand as opposed to run­ning them through opti­cal scan­ners again.