Most Ballots Counted: Sammamish-Issaquah 2021 Election Recap

SAMMAMISH, WA — Monday's updated election results put an unofficial cap on this year's election season in King County, providing voters an updated tally that accounts for the vast majority of the 36,000 ballots that were left to count at the end of last week.

However, there are still nearly 6,000 voters who still need to resolve signature issues with their ballots before they can be counted. Elections officials said roughly half of that group was flagged for having a signature that did not match the one on record, while the other half were left unsigned. Voters have until Nov. 22 to correct their ballots.

While there are still two weeks left before the election results are certified, Monday's results offer a pretty clear picture of how scores of local races panned out, including close city council contests in Sammamish and Renton.

Only four King County races currently appear close enough to qualify for hand or machine recounts, and only if they remain as close by certification day.

Potential machine recounts:

• Federal Way City Council Position 4 (Tran/Miller)
  • Separated by 77 votes, with a 0.4996% difference in total votes.
• Newcastle City Council Position 6 (Irigon/Charbonneau)
  • Separated by 15 votes, with 0.4561% difference in total votes.
• Issaquah School District Director District 4 (Mullings/Ghiora)
  • Separated by 86 votes, with a 0.3365% difference in total votes.

Potential hand recounts:

• Public Hospital District No. 1, Commissioner District 2 (Griggs/Lambro)
  • Separated by 98 votes, with 0.1953% difference in total votes.

Here are the latest results for key races in Sammamish and Issaquah:

Sammamish

City Council Pos. 1

• Amy Lam: 50.51%
• Josh Amato: 49.29%

City Council Pos. 3

• Karen Moran: 75.74%
• Nazir Harb Michel: 23.94%

City Council Pos. 5

• Kali Clark: 51.71%
• Rich Benack: 48.13%

City Council Pos. 7

• Karen Howe: 50.40%
• Melanie Kelsey: 49.40%

Issaquah

Mayor

• Mary Lou Pauly: 97.92%

City Council Pos. 1

• Chris Reh: 98.35%

City Council Pos. 3

• Barbara de Michele: 97.91%

City Council Pos. 5

• Russell Joe: 62.31%
• Rose Zibrat: 37.12%

City Council Pos. 7

• Tola Marts: 98.18%

With nearly all ballots counted, King County came much closer to its projected voter turnout goal of 46 percent, landing just shy of 44 percent countywide. A few communities outperformed their neighbors, including Lake Forest Park (57.84%), Seattle (55.14%) and Mercer Island (53.43%). Others fell a little short of the goal, including Renton (29.65%), Redmond (38.23%) and Issaquah (38.51%).

Among age groups, older voters were well ahead of their younger peers, with turnout considerably higher among residents 65 and older.

Here are how a few of the other races around King County panned out:

King County Executive

• Dow Constantine: 54.71%
• Joe Nguyen: 44.12%

County Council District 1

• Rod Dembowski: 83.22%
• Sally Caverzan: 16.15%

County Council District 3

• Sarah Perry: 55.76%
• Kathy Lambert: 43.91%

County Council District 5

• Pete von Reichbauer: 67.15%
• Dominique Torgerson: 31.7%

County Council District 9

• Reagan Dunn: 62.17%
• Kim-Khanh Van: 37.51%

Seattle Mayor:

• Bruce Harrell: 58.77%
• M. Lorena González: 40.92%

Seattle City Attorney

• Ann Davison: 51.69%
• Nicole Thomas-Kennedy: 47.53%