Spokane County’s three-person canvassing board certified the results of a partial recount in the auditor’s race, bringing to a conclusion the November general election.
The recount, conducted Wednesday, looked at 2,398 ballots cast in five precincts in southern Spokane, on the western bluff of Latah Valley. The hand recount discovered no differences from the totals as recorded by tabulation machines, so the results stood unchanged.
The recount was requested by Republican Bob McCaslin, a former state lawmaker who was running to unseat longtime incumbent auditor Vicky Dalton, a Democrat. It is not clear why McCaslin selected those five precincts in the Eagle Ridge neighborhood for re-examination. All five were carried by Dalton.
The final tally still makes the auditor’s race the closest outcome in Spokane County’s general election this year. Dalton won by 1,183 votes, out of more than 218,000 that were cast for the candidates.
