This morning, the King County Elections Canvassing Board certified the results of the mandatory machine recount of the 47th District House race, which includes Black Diamond.

Following the recount, Republican Mark Hargrove has maintained his lead, finishing with 27,101 votes, or 50.08 percent, to Democrat Bud Sizemore's 26,944 votes, or 49.79 percent.

“Recounts provide added assurance of accurate outcomes in the instance of very close races,” said Sherril Huff, Elections Director. “It is not unusual in a recount for a candidate to receive an additional vote or two.”

Recounts may identify a small number of ballots that, due to the way the voter marked them, could not be read by elections scanning machines.

The recount resulted in the addition of one vote for Mark Hargrove, but the outcome of the race did not change. One ballot originally counted as blank was visually reviewed and determined to have a write-in vote that was not attributable to either candidate.

Recounts are mandated by law when votes for offices or statewide measures fall within a certain range. State law does not provide for a mandatory recount of local issues.

Any office or state measure must be recounted by machine when the difference between two candidates or choices is:

· Less than 2,000 votes difference AND

· Less than ½ of one percent.

Note: An earlier version of this story reported that a hand recount was required in this race. We apologize for the error.

Contact Enumclaw Courier Herald Reporter Brian Beckley at bbeckley@courierherald.cm or 360-825-2555 ext. 5058.

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