SPOKANE, Wash – Election workers began counting ballots by hand in Spokane County Monday, as the state tries to determine who advances in one of the closest elections in state history.
In this contest, Jamie Herrera Beutler won the most votes statewide and will move on to the general election in November.
Only 51 votes out of 1,903,073 separate the next two candidates, Dave Upthegrove and Sue Kuehl Pederson.
The Secretary of State’s Office calls this the closest race in the history of Washington’s primary. The closest race before this was the contest for superintendent of public instruction in 1960, where 252 votes separated the candidates.
That triggers an automatic hand recount statewide.
County elections offices expect this will take seven days to complete.
In Spokane County, two elections workers are at each table counting a stack of ballots at a time. A supervisor then checks to make sure each worker got the same results.
Elections supervisors are at every table as well to ensure the process is conducted fairly.
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