Incumbent Spokane County Auditor Vicky Dalton, the sole elected Democrat in the county, was a in close race to stay in office, according to the first wave of election returns Tuesday night.
Dalton had 52 percent of the votes cast; Republican challenger Bob McCaslin had 48 percent.
Dalton has served as auditor since 1999. As is the case in many election-office races across the country this year, the primary issue was election security. Dalton has spent much of this campaign year explaining that election processes, methods and results are sound.
“The ‘election deniers’ cast doubt on the credibility of our election system, without any substantive evidence,” Dalton wrote in response to a Ballotpedia candidate survey. “Their allegations have had a negative effect on the public and on my election staff.”
McCaslin served in the Washington House since 2015, representing the Spokane Valley area. He has said the auditor’s office needs to be more transparent, and called for audits of all county departments.
This past summer, McCaslin also signed a Spokane County GOP petition calling for a third-party review of the county’s election processes. The petition was founded in large part on election myths spread in many states. In early 2022, McCaslin co-sponsored a bill that sought to require third-party “forensic” audits of election results, tabulating machines and voter rolls in randomly-selected counties.
Dalton won 52 percent of the vote in the August primary. McCaslin won 48 percent.
Vote totals and percentages are likely to change as more votes are counted.
