Tri-Cities candidate trailing on election night is now leading by 3 votes
Steven Christensen and Amanda Brown have traded places in the race for Pasco School Board District 3.
On election night, Christensen trailed Brown by just three votes. With updated ballots counts on Wednesday, the race remains a dead heat — but now he’s the one leading by three votes.
Christensen now sits at 49.79%, or 1,423 votes. And Brown has 49.69%, or 1,420 votes.
“There are still more ballots to count so we may not know the outcome for a few more days. Exciting and nerve racking,” Christensen wrote in an email to the Tri-City Herald.
The race may likely come down to a recount.
A mandatory recount is required under state law when the difference in vote totals between two general election candidates is both fewer than 2,000 votes and less than one-half percent of the total number of votes cast for both candidates.
Christensen is a three-term incumbent seeking another term on the Pasco School Board. He works as a nuclear ventilation engineer on the Hanford nuclear reservation. His family has lived in Pasco 21 years, and he does not currently have children in Pasco schools.
Brown is a dual language teacher who works in the Kennewick School District. She’s hoping to bring change to the seat, and an insider’s perspective of what teaching today is like.
She’s a mother of two Pasco School District students.
“Amanda and her team have worked hard, so I knew it could be a close race,” Christensen wrote.
The two are both running in a Hispanic-majority voting district in northeast Pasco.
It’s the tightest race on the Pasco School Board this year; the district put all seats up for reelection this year because of a new elections system.
So far, 2,858 ballots have been counted in the Christensen-Brown race..
The next release of ballot counts from Franklin County is expected at 7 p.m. Thursday.
The Franklin County canvassing board will certify the Nov. 8 election results Nov. 29. Winners will be sworn in at the Dec. 13 school board meeting and will serve staggered terms, ranging from one to three years. A normal term for a school board member is four years.
Eisinger narrows Lukson lead
Republican Benton County prosecutor candidate Ryan Lukson’s lead narrowed after more ballots were counted Wednesday.
Eric Eisinger, also a Republican, trails by about 605 votes. That gap was at about 730 after initial counts Tuesday night.
Lukson stands at 50.21%, or 19,564 votes as of Wednesday night. Eisinger has 48.65%, or about 18,959 votes.
The next tabulation was expected to be released about 5 p.m. Thursday.
“I think it’s going to be a pretty close race,” Lukson told the Tri-City Herald on Wednesday. “I’m happy. I think we ran a good campaign and we put in a lot of work. I’m happy for my family, friends and supporters who put in the work.”
He expects the race will continue to tighten as the final ballots are tallied.
The Benton County Elections Department estimates there are another 26,000 ballots left to count. Benton County has counted approximately 43,651 ballots by Wednesday.
This story was originally published November 10, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
