Rosalia City Council race goes to recount

Tribune

The race for one Rosalia City Council seat could be headed for a mandatory recount.

After the Nov. 8 election results were updated Tuesday, emergency medical technician Rick Lau continued to lead 16-year incumbent Robert Hill by the slimmest of margins: 112 votes for Lau compared to 111 for Hill.

Elections Supervisor Debbie Hooper said there are still about 150 ballots left to count, although it isn't clear if any are from Rosalia.

These last few ballots will go to the canvassing board Nov. 28 for final resolution. Hooper said they were held back for a variety of reasons. In a few cases, voters highlighted two ovals in the same race, so the canvassing board will have to determine voter intent. In other cases, the signature on the ballot didn't match the voter signature on file, or the ballot wasn't signed at all.

"We let the canvassing board make the determination on those," Hooper said.

The board will also reject any ballots postmarked after Nov. 8, she said.

All the other races in Whitman County appeared to have been resolved Tuesday, when another 1,000 or so ballots were counted. The results won't be official, however, until they're certified Nov. 29.

If the Lau-Hill race is still separated by a single vote at that time, it might trigger a mandatory recount.