Narrow margin forces recount in Charter Review race

Published 5:34 pm Wednesday, December 3, 2014

The election season isn’t quite over, not just yet.

Because of a narrow margin-of-victory in voting for Charter Review Commission’s District 1, the Clallam County elections department is completing a mandatory machine recount to assure accurate counts of the position. The top five of 15 candidates from the district are elected to the commission, and after the election tallies, Sequim resident Ted Miller recorded 3,386 votes (fifth place) while Jerry Sinn, a Sequim-area resident, had 3,357 votes (sixth).

The difference between the vote totals is less than half of 1 percent, triggering the automatic recount.

A machine recount has been set by the Clallam County Canvassing Board to begin at 9 a.m. today, Dec. 3, in the Election Center at the Clallam County Courthouse.

The recount is expected to take several days, according to county elections staff. The 13 candidates for the position and political party observers have been invited to view the recount.

A machine recount allows staff to review undervoted ballots for any possible missed marks.

In the Charter Review District 1 race there were 5,458 ballots that contained undervotes. While voters could vote for five candidates, many did not, county elections staffers said.