The tight primary contest between Kent Democrats Claudia Kauffman and Satwinder Kaur to advance along with Kent Republican Bill Boyce in the Legislative 47th District Senate race could be headed for a recount.
Kauffman leads Kaur by only 63 votes, according to King County Election results released Aug. 9. Kauffman has 8,159 votes (27.23%) and Kaur has 8,096 votes (27.02%). Boyce won the primary with 12,658 votes (45.58%).
Kauffman received 15 more votes and Kaur 13 more votes from results released Aug. 8.
If the votes stays that close through the Aug. 16 certification by King County Elections, a recount will occur. The two candidates with the most votes in the Aug. 2 primary advance to the Nov. 8 general election ballot.
State law lays out mandatory recount requirements, which is triggered when the election is certified on Aug. 16.
• A machine recount is required if there is a difference of less than 2,000 votes AND also less than 0.5% of the total number of votes cast for both candidates.
• A hand recount is required if there is a difference of less than 150 votes AND also less than 0.25% of the total number of votes cast for both candidates.
King County Elections spokesperson Halei Watkins said as of Aug. 9 a machine recount would be required. She said most ballots are in for the 47th District race.
“We are pretty much counted at this point although it is still possible to get mail with on-time postmarks from overseas and service voters,” Watkins said in an Aug. 9 email. “It looks like there are 423 ballots with outstanding signature challenges (328 with a mismatching signature, 94 who forgot to sign their ballot). Those voters are notified by our office with a letter, and phone and email if they’ve provided us with that information. They have until 4:30 pm on Monday, Aug. 15 to fill out and return the form to get it fixed and have their vote counted.”
King County Elections will release more results each weekday before certifying the election on Aug. 16.
Boyce is president of the Kent City Council and Kaur also is a Kent City Council member. Kauffman held the 47th District Senate seat from 2007 to 2010 before losing to Joe Fain, R-Auburn.
Sen. Mona Das, D-Kent, currently holds the seat, but decided not to seek a second four-year term. She narrowly defeated Fain in 2018.
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