Benton City businessman is paying for a recount. He lost by 13 votes

A Benton City Council candidate who lost by 13 votes is going to pay for a recount out of his own pocket.

While Alex Weber, a local businessman, trailed incumbent David Sandretto by less than 20 votes, it wasn’t enough to trigger an automatic, county-paid recount, said Amanda Hatfield, Benton County’s elections manager.

An automatic recount is triggered when two candidates are separated by less than 2,000 votes and that number is 0.5% of the votes they received.

In this case, those 13 votes accounted for a more than 2% split between the candidates.

Sandretto led his opponent with 50.7% of the more than 600 votes to Weber’s 48.6%.

The close race came as voters ousted one incumbent city council member and elected a newcomer to another spot. And that followed an unsuccessful attempt to adopt a city manager system of government.

Both candidates said they were looking for change in the small town of about 3,300 people west of West Richland.

The county canvassing board, which oversees and certifies elections, is expected to sign off on the recount at its meeting Thursday.

While automatic recounts are not common, they do happen from time to time.

Last year, a tight primary race between then Benton County Commissioner Jim Beaver and challenger Joe Lusignan triggered a recount. In 17 years, that was the first time Hatfield had seen a candidate request a recount.

In this case, Weber, who owns a financial consulting firm, paid a $150 deposit and will need to cover the county’s cost for the recount. It’s uncertain what the total will be.

Still, it’s unusual for a recount to change the result of an election.

County election officials plan to have the recounting start at 9 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 6, at the voting center at 2610 N. Columbia Center Blvd. in Richland.

The process is open for the public to watch. For more information on that, call the election department at 509-736-3085.