WA lands commissioner race too close to call, recount needed

WA lands commissioner race separated by 51 votes, goes to hand recount

The race for the second spot to advance to the general election for Washington's Lands Commissioner remains too close to call and is going to an automatic recount.

SEATTLE - The race for the second spot to advance to the general election for Washington's Lands Commissioner remains too close to call and is going to an automatic recount.

Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler has already advanced with 22.1% of the vote as of Aug. 22.

Washington's primary election advances the top two candidates regardless of party. Early results showed Republican Sue Pederson in second place, but as late progressive votes came in, Democrat Dave Upthegrove moved into the second spot by only 51 votes, 0.0064%.

According to the Secretary of State, "The race is the closest statewide race in the history of Washington’s primary, exceeding the 1960 superintendent of public instruction primary where A. T. Van Devanter and Harold L. Anderson were separated by 252 votes."

More than 1.9 million ballots were cast in the Aug. 6 primary election. The initial count wrapped up on Aug. 20. It's expected to take about seven days for the manual recount to be completed.

"We are confident our election officials and workers throughout the state’s 39 county election offices administered an accurate and reliable election for all Washingtonians," Assistant Secretary of State Kevin McMahan said. "The mandatory recount underscores the importance of every vote and reaffirms the commitment of our county election officials to ensuring accurate election results. We ask for everyone's patience as county election officials administer the manual recount to ensure that the intent of every voter is accurately heard."

If the difference between candidates is less than 0.5% of the total votes cast and less than 2,000 votes, state law requires a machine recount. If less than 1,000 votes and a 0.25% difference, a hand recount is mandated.

The latest election results can be found on our real-time results page.