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Challenger Sam Doyle is now leading by 21 votes over incumbent Rick Ryan in the race for Mountlake Terrace City Council Position 1, according to returns from the Snohomish County Elections Office Monday, Nov. 21.
Doyle had 2,674 votes (50.07%) in Monday’s vote count, a 21-vote lead over Ryan, who had 2,653 votes (49.67%). Doyle led by 20 votes in the last count, released Nov. 14.
According to the Washington Secretary of State’s Office website, in non-statewide races, a machine recount is required when the difference between the top two candidates is less than 2,000 votes and also less than 1/2 of 1% of the total number of votes cast for both candidates. A manual recount is required when the difference between the top two candidates is less than 150 votes and also less than 1/4 of 1% of the total votes cast for both candidates.
The next vote count will be released at 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 24.
You can see complete Snohomish County election results here.
To answer the question everyone is wondering, this is likely going to a machine recount and likely a Sam Doyle victory.
There were 5560 ballots cast in MLT. 5520 have been counted leaving 40 remaining. Of those 40, 27 arrived too late to be counted leaving 13 that are either a signature mismatch or did not have a signature. Those 13 could still be counted if corrected before Monday at 5pm. With only 13 possible ballots left to count it is impossible for Rick Ryan to close the 21 vote gap to Sam Doyle before a recount.
The article above explains recount thresholds. The vote total for the two of them is 2674+2653= 5327.
.5% of that is 26.6 and .25% of that is 13.3. That means if the difference is 27 or more there will be no recount, between 26-14 it will go to machine recount and 13-0 it would go manual. With a current vote difference of 21, which is unlikely to change significantly, it means we are most likely headed to a machine recount unless Rick Ryan decides to concede which would skip that process.
So this is extremely likely to be a Doyle victory and without a Ryan concession it is extremely likely to go to a recount. Recounts are extremely unlikely to change the outcome of the race.
Thanks for stating the actual situation and explanation. Makes more sense now.