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June 24, 2023 - Election Integrity Update by Bill Bruch
When vote counting ended in the recent Washington State 2022 general election Legislative District 10 State Representative Position 1 race, it was agreed under RCW 29A.64.021 a mandatory “machine recount” was required by state statute.
Popular Republican incumbent attorney Greg Gilday apparently lost the race by 211 votes with 74,643 votes counted.
Per RCW 29A.64.021(1), the Legislative District 10, State Representative Position 1 race qualified for a mandatory machine recount because the difference in the number of votes cast was less than two thousand votes and also less than one-half of one percent of the total number of votes cast for both candidates.
Under RCW 29A.64.041 (1) Procedure: The plain language of the statute states: At the time and place established for a recount, the canvassing board, or its duly authorized representatives, in the presence of all witnesses who may be in attendance, shall open the sealed containers containing the ballots to be recounted, and shall recount the votes for the offices or issues for which the recount has been ordered.
However, unfortunately and against state statute, that never happened!
The "UNDER VOTES" ARE ONLY THE BALLOTS THAT DID NOT HAVE A VOTE CAST IN THE ELECTION FOR THAT RACE. In other words... There were NEVER ACTUAL VOTES IN THE RACE RE-COUNTED. Election officials are only "recounting" BALLOT IMAGES for the race of the VOTERS WHO DID NOT VOTE IN THAT RACE.
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