More ballots counted in Chelan and Douglas counties: Smith, Morrison, Young still ahead

“With the spread being what it is and the remaining ballots so low I do not see how the (sheriff’s) outcome could change,” said Skip Moore, Chelan County Auditor, in an email Wednesday.

In a tight Chelan County Commission race, candidate Shon Smith extended his lead over Anne Hessburg.

Smith, a Republican, now has 16,690 votes (50.5%) and has extended his lead over Hessburg, an independent, who has received 16,312 votes (49.4%). A week ago, the difference was 143 but is 378 votes as of Tuesday, according to the Chelan County Auditor’s Office.

Chelan County Clerk candidate Martin Young also extended his lead in Tuesday’s ballot count bringing his total up to 16,316 (50.7%) over his opponent, Sandra Arechiga, who has received 15,788 (49.1%). Young ran as a Republican and Arechiga ran as an Independent.

Only 233 votes remain to be counted as of Tuesday, according to Chelan County Auditor’s Office.

Attorney Jon Volyn, District Court judge candidate, maintained his lead over his opponent Allen Blackmon, a deputy prosecuting attorney, in their bid to replace retiring Judge Roy Fore. Volyn’s lead comes out to 1,429 votes with a total 15,050 votes (52.3%) compared to Blackmon’s 13,621 votes (47.4%).

Chelan County commissioners, however, announced Tuesday afternoon they would appoint Blackmon to take resigning District Court Judge Kyle Mott’s seat.

Former Chelan PUD Commissioner Carnan Bergren continues to lead against Manson School Board member Aurora Flores for Chelan County PUD District 3 commissioner. Bergren’s lead has grown to be over 3,000 votes. Bergren has received 15,656 votes (55.2%) to Flores’s 12,584 votes (44.4%).

The Eastmont School District’s bond proposal — a $185 million proposal to revamp many of the school district’s schools — in Douglas County has not yet cleared the 60% yes votes necessary to pass. As of Thursday, 51.7% of residents have voted to approve, a total of 6,154 votes. Another 5,742 voters (48.3%) chose to reject the proposal.

An estimated 900 ballots are left to count. The next ballot count is on Thursday.

In Chelan County, the count will be updated on Nov. 22. Final certification takes place on Nov. 29 for both counties.

State law provides mechanisms for recounts in some instances.

• A machine recount: If the difference between the top two candidates is fewer than 2,000 votes and also less than half of 1% of the total number of votes cast for both candidates.
• A manual recount: If the difference between the top two candidates is less than 150 votes and also less than a quarter of 1% of the total votes cast for both candidates.

If the race for commissioner concluded at this count, a mandatory recount would not be triggered as it does not meet the requirement for a machine recount by about 213 votes.

But any group of five or more registered voters, political party officer, or any candidate can file a written application for a recount of the votes or portion of the votes cast in a race, according to the Secretary of State’s website.

The party in question would need to pay 15 cents for each ballot in a machine recount or 25 cents for each ballot in a manual recount.

Both mandatory and non-mandatory recounts take place after the election is certified. The application for a non-mandatory recount must be filed within three business days after certification, according to the Secretary of State’s website.