Port of Olympia District 2 candidates separated by 32 votes, new data show

Port of Olympia District 2 commissioner Bob Iyall is retaining his lead over challenger Jerry Toompas, but that lead is only 32 votes after Monday afternoon’s ballot count.

It has been a roller coaster of results for the two candidates since the general election on Nov. 4.

Iyall led by about 400 votes after the first count, then watched as his lead became a deficit and he trailed Toompas by 34 votes on Thursday. But after Friday’s count Iyall regained his lead with a 128-vote difference over Toompas, only to see him cut into that lead again.

“This is pretty wild!”said Toompas in a Facebook post Monday evening. “I gained 96 more votes than Commissioner Iyall over the weekend, so now I’m down by just 32 votes.”

Now, the question becomes: Are the two candidates headed for a recount?

They have already passed the threshold for a machine recount and are now well within the range of a hand recount, Thurston County Auditor Mary Hall said Monday.

“This is the race to watch,” she said.

For a hand recount, the following two things must happen: they need to be separated by less than 150 votes, and be separated by less than one-quarter of 1%, or .0025%, Auditor’s Office information shows.

Right now the two candidates are separated by 32 votes and .0004%, said Hall.

However, before the auditor’s office gets to a recount, they still need to count outstanding ballots. The next count is set for 5 p.m. Wednesday. An estimated 3,500 ballots still need to be counted before the results are certified.

Meanwhile, District 3 candidate Krag Unsoled solidified his lead over Anthony Hemstad with a 2,800-vote difference after Monday’s count. Hemstad conceded the election to Unsoeld in a Facebook post Friday night.

Monday’s vote tallies

District 2

• Bob Iyall: 37,236 votes, or 49.8%.
• Jerry Toompas: 37,204 votes, or 49.75%.

District 3

• Krag Unsoeld: 38,429 votes, or 51.6%.
• Anthony Hemstad: 35,629 votes, or 47.8%.