Fourteen more votes were tallied by King County Elections today (Feb. 19) and the Klahanie annexation vote spread tightened to 28 from 34, still favoring “Against Annexation” over “For Annexation.”
The vote count now is:
For Annexation: 1,500 or 49.54%
Against Annexation: 1,528 or 50.46%.
This is still outside the mandatory recount criteria.
The election is certified Feb. 25.
The King County website is down (at 4pm), so I called the Elections department to get an update on the Klahanie vote.
I was told there wasn’t going to be an update today anyway because so few ballots had been received to count; this is county-wide, but obviously has application to the Klahanie vote.
So we are left with Friday’s results, where the “Against Annexation” is leading “For Annexation” by 34 votes.
This also suggests there are no appreciable ballots left to be received (unless there is a flood of votes from the military service personnel overseas who are focused on the annexation issue).
Thus, as I did on Friday, I continue to “call” the election: the Klahanie annexation to Issaquah was rejected.
The result is outside the automatic recount. Issaquah could pay for a recount, but I see little point in doing so.
Friday’s election count returns in the Klahanie annexation vote for Issaquah saw the “Against Annexation” vote widen to 52.3% 50.56% to 47.7%, 49.44% and a 349 spread.
For annexation: 3,575 1,490
Against annexation: 3,922 1,524
I accidentally put the Bag Ban figures in there. The spread and trend still widened, with “For” picking up 19 votes and “Against” picking up 24 votes. Unless there is a flood of votes to be counted, which I don’t believe is the case, the trend continues to be against annexation.
I’m declaring the annexation defeated, even though final results won’t be certified until Feb. 25. The trend has been negative from the second day and the spread is too great.
This result is outside the requirements for a mandatory recount:
(From King County Elections website:)
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:
Statewide offices or measures must be recounted by hand when the difference between two candidates or choices is:
For all other offices, ballots must be recounted by hand if the difference between the two candidates is:
*****************
Meantime, one of the local newspapers continues to miss the fact that if the annexation vote passes by 50%+1 (an increasingly unlikely prospect), Issaquah could still annex the area. The city posted this on its website Feb. 13:
Posted on: February 13, 2014
During the Feb. 11, 2014, election, the Klahanie area voted on whether to join the City of Issaquah, or remain in unincorporated King County.
The results will be updated most weekdays and finalized on Feb. 25, after they are certified by the King County Canvassing Board.
Since the annexation proposition included authorizing both an annexation and an assumption of indebtedness, it requires a 60 percent majority to pass.
However, if the proposition instead passes by a simple majority, the City Council would have an option to:
• Accept the annexation, which means that the Klahanie area would not assume a proportionate share of the City’s existing indebtedness.
• Decline the annexation.
More information about the proposed Klahanie area annexation is available online.
For more information on the state’s full annexation process, visit the Municipal Research and Services Center of Washington’s website.
It’s Thursday, and Day 3 of election returns for the unexpectedly tight results of the proposed annexation of the Klahanie area to Issaquah. The results today:
| For Annexation: 1,471 | 49.51 |
| Against Annexation: 1,500 | 50.49 |
Voting results on the day after the Klahanie annexation election showed a tightening from the six vote margin on election night in favor of annexation to just one vote.
The day two results:
1,365 for annexation
1,364 against annexation.
The Issaquah Reporter has the reaction of Issaquah Mayor Fred Butler, who says the city faces a policy decision whether to annex Klahanie without having the area assume a portion of the city’s debt, should annexation pass. His comments affirm our report from last night that this election isn’t over yet.
A recount is almost certain.
Sammamish Comment 