Benton commissioner recount is done. It came down to 47 votes

Benton County Commissioner Jim Beaver is moving ahead to the general election by just a few dozen votes.

He will face off against Will McKay for the Benton County commissioner’s seat in the general election.

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

In the automatic recount, third contender Joe Lusignan trailed Beaver by 47 votes. Before the recount, he was trailing by 41 votes.

McKay received 5,349 votes, Beaver received 5,089 and Lusignan received 5,042 votes. All three ran as Republicans.

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 or less of the votes they received.

This story was originally published August 20, 2020 at 3:42 PM.