Upthegrove poised to advance to general election in lands commissioner race

(The Center Square) – King County Councilmember Dave Upthegrove, a Democrat, appears to have enough votes to move on to the Nov. 5 general election to face former U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, a Republican, in the race to be the next state commissioner of public lands. That's according to the unofficial results of a hand recount of the Aug. 6 primary election results.

The Office of the Secretary of State directed all 39 counties to complete a hand recount of 1.9 million ballots after the initial count left Upthegrove and third-place finisher Republican Sue Kuehl Pederson separated by just 51 votes.

It was the first statewide recount following a state primary since 1960, according to the Office of the Secretary of State.

Results will be certified by noon Wednesday, but recount numbers posted from individual counties show very few discrepancies, with most counties reporting no change from the initial count.

Upthegrove gained six votes in the recount and Kuehl Pederson gained four.

Both campaigns scrambled to secure volunteers and hired legal counsel to monitor the recount.

Upthegrove campaign spokesperson Sandeep Kaushik told The Center Square the campaign believes efforts to reach voters whose ballots were challenged over signature issues or unsigned envelopes made the difference for their candidate, a process known as ballot curing .

Kuehl Pederson’s team also made efforts to cure ballots in the week leading up to the deadline to tally votes.

More than 10,000 voters fixed their ballots before the initial vote was certified according to the Office of the Secretary of State.

If Kuehl Pederson had managed to flip the lead following the recount, that would have put two Republicans on the ballot for commissioner of public lands, guaranteeing a Republican in a statewide executive office where Democrats have dominated.