If you follow such things, you’ll have noted that the gap between incumbent Port Orchard Mayor Lary Coppola and challenger Tim Matthes is down to two votes, in preliminary results released Tuesday.
Matthes is ahead as he has been since election night, when one vote separated the two. The widest the margin has been is 13 votes.
Although a hand recount seems all but certain, Kitsap County Elections Manager Dolores Gilmore says it’s not a slam dunk. Hard as it may be on the candidates and their supporters, the auditor’s office can’t make that call until the election is certified Nov. 29.
The Kitsap Sun has been tracking updates from the auditor’s office. New numbers are due out tomorrow, but barring a dramatic change in the margin, we will wait until certification is complete to do our next update.
Here’s the brief we’ll run in tomorrow’s paper, with links to earlier stories on the race, below.
By Chris Henry
chenry@kitsapsun.com360-792-9219
PORT ORCHARD — The gap between the two candidates for Port Orchard
mayor has narrowed to two, in preliminary results released Tuesday,
and a hand recount is a strong likelihood, according to Kitsap
County Elections Manager Dolores Gilmore.
Since the Nov. 8 election, incumbent Lary Coppola has trailed
challenger Tim Matthes by a margin ranging from one vote to 13
votes.
The current margin between the candidates, 0.08 percent if you
don’t count write-in votes, is small enough to trigger a hand
recount.
“It’s neck and neck at this point,” Gilmore said. “Right now a
recount is likely.”
State election law calls for a machine recount with a margin of
less than 0.5 percent and a hand recount for less than 0.25
percent.
But there are still a couple of wild cards in the race in the form
of 13 more Port Orchard ballots left to count and 25 “challenge”
ballots, whose signatures must be “cured” if they are to be
included in the results.
The Kitsap County Auditor’s office has mailed letters notifying
challenge ballot voters that they can resubmit their signatures,
which either were missing or did not match the registration.
Anyone the auditor’s office doesn’t hear from by Nov. 21 will
receive a reminder phone call. Voters have until Nov. 29, the date
the election will be certified, to resubmit their signatures.
The auditor’s office will issue an updated report by 5 p.m.
Wednesday.
Nov. 8
Every vote really matters in Port Orchard race
Nov. 9
Latest ballot count increases challenger’s lead
Nov. 10
Matthes maintains slim lead
