(The Center Square) – Nearly one week since Election Day and Katie Wilson has taken the lead over Mayor Bruce Harrell in the Seattle mayoral race by less than 100 votes with a recount becoming more likely.
As of Monday, Wilson now leads by just 91 votes over Harrell.
Wilson was originally down by seven points, or 10,000 votes on Tuesday, but has since cut the deficit down and taken the lead by less than 100 votes. This is a common trend in Seattle elections as late-counted ballots typically come from younger voters in more progressive neighborhoods like Capitol Hill.
“This thing is certainly not over! Over 1,000 ballots have been challenged, so if you haven’t tracked your ballot yet, get on it,” Wilson said in a social media post.
Harrell won his first term as Seattle mayor in 2021 with 58% of the vote.
Washington state law requires an automatic machine recount for all candidate elections, including local ones, if the margin is less than 2,000 votes and the margin is less than 0.5% of the total votes cast for both candidates.
Required recounts come at a cost to the state and county. In the case of the close Seattle mayoral race, King County would be required to pay for recount costs. If the race does not fall under the required conditions for a mandatory recount, each candidate can request a recount but will have to pay for the recount unless the outcome is reversed, in which case the county pays. The requestor must pay a deposit of 25 cents per ballot cast for a hand recount or 15 cents per ballot for a machine recount.
With 267,875 ballots counted so far, that translates into $40,181.25 for a machine recount and $66,968.75 for a hand recount.
King County Elections is looking at recent examples of required recounts and their associated costs per a request by The Center Square.
Votes will continue to be tallied on Tuesday.
