Hand recount is coming to Ocean Shores ballots

Following the certification of the General Election on Tuesday, little changed among races throughout the county.

The race in focus currently is for Ocean Shores Mayor. Mayor Crystal Dingler maintained her lead following the latest count as she leads challenger and Councilwoman Susan Conniry by 3 votes. The race was separated by only 4 voters at the prior count. 

This race had already been qualified for a mandatory hand recount of ballots with only .12% between the women. 

Following Tuesday’s certification, that race is now only split by .09%, with Dingler’s 49.63% to Conniry’s 49.54%.

Under Washington State law, a machine recount would be required when the difference between candidates is less than one half of one percent and also less than 2,000 votes, although in this case a hand recount is in order because it comes to a difference of less than 150 votes and one quarter of one percent.

In the 2018 Primary election, a hand recount was required after candidates Chris Thomas and Jasmine Dickhoff saw only 16 votes and .1% seperate them for the second position in the Grays Harbor County Auditor race. 

No results within the county changed following that recount.

That mandatory hand recount is set to begin next week and will only impact the Ocean Shores race.

The only race that saw a change from previous results was the City of Oakville Position 4 race. Tied at 60 votes apiece on November 14, Julie Zehe added 2 votes in late ballot entries to overtake Allen Werth for the position.

In total,  20,721 total ballots were counted in the 2019 General Election, an increase of 94 ballots since the last count, representing 46.07% of voters.