Bellevue Council, School Board Races Remain Close A Week After Election

The latest returns counted by King County Elections shows that the close races on the Bellevue City Council and Bellevue School Board have remained close since election night.

However, it is too early to say whether the close elections are headed for recounts, say King County Elections officials.

Bellevue City Council hopeful John Stokes maintains a slim lead over Aaron Laing, for the seat being vacated by Bellevue Councilman Grant Degginger. Stokes, with 13,877 votes, leads Laing by 79 votes, . The percentage difference between the two is less than a half of a percent.

Election night saw the. However, the campaign for the seat being vacated by Degginger grew heated, as .

For Bellevue School Board, incumbent Betsy Johnson continues to trail challenger Steve McConnell by less than a percentage point and by 485 votes. .*

Johnson, who was appointed to the board less than two years ago, . McConnell .

Recount Bound? Here are the conditions:

It is still too early to know whether any of these races are headed for an automatic recount, said King County Elections spokeswoman Kim van Ekstrom.

Mandatory machine recounts are triggered if the difference between the two candidates is fewer than 2,000 votes and the difference between the two candidates is less than half a percent, she said.

A mandatory hand recount is triggered when the difference between the two candidates is fewer than 150 votes and the difference between them is less than a quarter of a percent, she said.

Van Ekstrom said that the county has about 40,000 ballots left to count.

However, any decision on recounts will be made after the certification of the election, which is Nov. 29, she said.

CITY OF BELLEVUE

Ballots Cast/Registered Voters: *

32531

/

66425

48.97%

Council Position No. 1

Aaron Laing

13,798

49.72%

John Stokes

13,877

50.01%

Write-in

75

0.27

Council Position No. 3

Michelle Hilhorst

8,829

31.74%

John Chelminiak

18,921

68.03%

Write-in

63

0.23%

Council Position No. 5

Patti Mann

9,606

34.22%

Claudia Balducci

18,408

65.57%

Write-in

61

0.22%

Council Position No. 7

Jennifer Robertson

20,584

97.71%

Write-in

483

2.29%

BELLEVUE SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 405

Ballots Cast/Registered Voters: *

33572

/

67856

49.48%

Director District No. 1

Steve McConnell

13,410

50.81%

Betsy Johnson

12,925

48.98%

Write-in

55

0.21%

Director District No. 2

Christine Chew

20,741

99.05%

Write-in

198

0.95%

Director District No. 4

Michael F. Murphy

20,497

99.09%

Write-in

189

0.91%

-- Information from King County Elections

*This story has been corrected from the original version, which had the incorrect percentage point difference between Steve McConnell and Betsy Johnson.