Skagit County election results certified

Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman certified state election results Tuesday. Skagit County’s election results were certified by the Skagit County Canvassing Board Nov. 24. All candidates leading after the first week of vote counts, Nov. 10 won. The closest race was public defender Elizabeth Yost Neidzwski’s win for the Skagit Superior Court Judge Position 3. She defeated Mount Vernon attorney Tom Seguine by 388 votes.

Turnout was 86.4%, with 74,039 people voting. That is some six percent higher than for the 2016 Trump-Clinton election. The Auditor’s office estimated that 70 percent of returned ballots were returned before election day. There were 11,692 more registered Skagit County voters during this election then in 2016’s.

The County was again last among westside counties in finishing the ballot count. County Public Information Officer Laura Han noted that “In 2019 and prior, we would have had 12-16 board workers at a time inspecting each ballot to ensure it can be read by the tabulation equipment. This year, we’ve only been able to have five people in our office safely.”

Next year the office will have new ballot sorter/scanner to speed the initial counting, sorting, opening and signature checking processes, Han said, noting that some larger counties in the state have one or more of these machines speeding their processing time

They have not requested additional funding in the 2021 Auditor’s budget, Han said.

All election results are at https://results.vote.wa.gov/results/20201103/.