WA Public Lands Commissioner primary likely headed for a recount

The closely watched race for Washington Commissioner of Public Lands looks to be headed for a recount for second place.

Democrat Dave Upthegrove has a slight edge over Republican Sue Kuehl Pederson with Monday afternoon’s tally. One of them will face former U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler in November.

By Monday evening, Upthegrove had 395,812 votes and Kuehl Pederson had 395,619, a difference of 193 votes – about 0.02% of their total votes. There were an estimated 1,350 votes left to count around the state, including 300 in King County, where Upthegrove got 34% of the vote, and 377 in Benton County, where Kuehl Pederson has received about 34% of the vote.

The difference between Upthegrove and Kuehl Pederson will almost certainly trigger an automatic recount. Automatic machine recounts in the primary occur when the difference between the second- and third-place candidates is less than one half of one percent of their total, and also is less than 2,000 votes. An automatic hand recount occurs when the difference between the candidates is less than one quarter of one percent and also less than 1,000 votes.

https://www.cascadepbs.org/politics/2024/08/wa-public-lands-commissioner-primary-likely-headed-recount