Benton County commissioner race too close to call. It’s heading to a recount

A Benton commissioner race is heading to a recount.

Former Benton County Deputy Joe Lusignan trails incumbent Commissioner Jim Beaver by 41 votes in the Aug. 4 primary. The separation is about 0.4 percent of the votes they received and triggers a mandatory machine recount.

The top two vote-getters in the primary, regardless of party, move on to the general election in November.

In the three-way race for Beaver’s seat, the 10-year incumbent is currently in second (5,046 votes) behind Kennewick businessman Will McKay (5,309.) Lusignan trails Beaver with 5,005 votes.

In primary elections, a recount is triggered when the second- and third-place positions are separated by less than 2,000 votes and that amount is 0.5 percent of the votes they received.

The election was certified Tuesday morning.

While a recount is needed, it’s not close enough to require a hand recount of all of the ballots.

State law requires the office to look at votes were people did not completely fill in the oval. This includes about 2,000 of the 15,680 votes cast in the race, said Benton County Auditor Brenda Chilton.

They also will check the three votes where people overfilled the oval and check the write-in votes to make sure they were recorded correctly.

They hope to have the recount finished by Monday morning when the canvassing board meets again to certify it.

The auditor’s office is expecting to start the process on Thursday, Chilton said.

Recounts rare

While having recounts is rare, it’s also equally rare that a machine recount changes the results of a race, Chilton said. In her 22 years working in the office, she doesn’t remember it happening.

The candidates and political parties will be notified about the recount later Tuesday. Observers can be present during the process. The auditor’s office does ask that people contact the office at 509-736-3085 before showing up at the processing center in Prosser.

Observers will need to wear a mask and maintain a 6-foot distance from each other.

Beaver declined to talk about the recount.

Lusignan said on Friday this is a good reminder that each vote counts. He was hoping people who didn’t sign their ballots will get them taken care of by the Monday deadline.

“It is painful to have it come down to be this close,” he told the Herald.

This story was originally published August 18, 2020 at 2:12 PM.