PORT ANGELES — Clallam County Treasurer Selinda Barkhuis has won a place on the Charter Review Commission from District 2, while one seat representing District 1 on the panel may be decided by a recount, said Auditor Patty Rosand after an additional 126 ballots were counted Wednesday.
Ted Miller is slightly ahead of Jerry Sinn for the fifth seat from District 1, after the most recent count of ballots from the Nov. 4 general election.
Miller has 3,380 votes, or 8.73 percent, to Sinn’s 3,353 votes, or 8.66 percent.
They are so close that the contest “is still in mandatory machine recount status after this count,” Rosand said.
“A difference of less than one-half of a percent causes a mandatory machine recount, and less than one-fourth of a percent causes a mandatory hand recount,” Rosand said.
The issue won’t be decided until the Canvassing Board meets Monday to review ballots in question.
Ballots that are accepted will be processed and tabulated, and the final results will be certified Tuesday.
If a recount is needed, the Canvassing Board will set a time for it, Rosand said.
In Port Angeles-area District 2, Barkhuis has 2,142 votes, or 6.76 percent, to sixth-place Diane Haffner’s 2,032 votes, or 6.42 percent, for a seat on the Charter Review Commission, which will begin to meet in January.
“I doubt that there will be enough ballots to affect that race,” Rosand said of remaining votes.
All other general election results are unchanged after the most recent count, including the remainder of the 15 charter review panel seats.
Swearing-in ceremonies
Mark Nichols will be sworn in as prosecuting attorney at 1 p.m. Tuesday in the county commissioners’ meeting room (160) at the Clallam County Courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St.
He will take over from William Payne, who was appointed to the position in January after Deb Kelly, the elected chief prosecutor, resigned.
Nichols will serve out the short term and then begin his elected term in January.
All other elected officers, excluding Charter Review Commission members, will be sworn in by Superior Court Judge Chris Melly at 9 a.m. Dec. 30 and begin serving Jan. 2.
