Votes to be recounted in City Council race with 1-vote margin

The Thurston County Canvassing Board has certified the Aug. 3 primary election results, but one race requires a recount.

The canvassing board has scheduled a recount for Yelm City Council Position 4. Candidates Steffen Burney and Kayla Russell finished just one vote apart, with Burney receiving 257 votes and Russell receiving 256.

That automatically requires a hand recount to determine which candidate will move on to the general election ballot in November to face off against Holly Smith, who received 457 votes. The primary narrows the field of candidates to two.

A mandatory hand recount occurs if the vote difference is less than 150 and less than a quarter of 1%. The percentage difference was .19%.

The recount will start at 9 a.m. Friday, Aug. 20. The Canvassing Board will meet at 4 p.m. Friday to certify the results of the recount.

Information on how the public can view the canvassing board meeting or the recount is available on the elections website.

Other election results did not change since the Friday, Aug. 6 tallies. The final primary turnout in Thurston County was just shy of 32%.

This story was originally published August 18, 2021 at 2:18 PM.