Recount in Powers-Lucarelli Race a Go

By Chris Henry
chenry@kitsapsun.com
PORT ORCHARD
It’s official. There will be a recount in the race for Port Orchard City Council Position 2.
In official results, posted Monday afternoon by the Kitsap County Auditor’s office, incumbent Carolyn Powers, with 49.88 percent of the vote, was 12 votes ahead of challenger Cindy Lucarelli, with 49.38 percent.
An automatic machine recount is triggered by a margin of half a percentage point or less.
Write-in votes are not counted for purposes of determining if a recount is needed. Without the 18 write-ins the margin widens negligibly (three thousandths of a percentage point to be exact), but is still within recount range.
A difference of one ballot would have deep-sixed the possibility of a recount, according to Elections Manager Dolores Gilmore.
On Tuesday, the auditor’s office will begin reprogramming and testing its equipment, as mandated by law. Between now and the recount date, likely Dec. 3, elections officials must pull all ballots within the City of Port Orchard. They must give legal notice of the recount, and they must contact the candidates and local political parties, who will have the right to observe proceedings.
The recount must be certified by the county’s canvas board. Members include Kitsap County Auditor Walt Washington, Kitsap County Board of Commissioners Chairwoman Charlotte Garrido, and the Kitsap County Prosecutor’s designee, Deputy Prosecutor Jacquelyn Aufderheide.
If the vote count remains the same, Powers wins the election. If the margin narrows to within a quarter of a percentage point, there will be a hand recount.
The most recent recount in Kitsap County’s elections history was the 2004 governor’s race.