Four votes separate Kinzer, Handy

COLFAX--Whitman County Commissioner Dean Kinzer has taken a slim lead over challenger Tom Handy with 2,000 more ballots counted last night, Nov. 5. Kinzer added 881 votes and Handy 814, bringing them to 7,564 and 7,560, respectively. Kinzer has claimed more votes from every precinct in the county except Albion and Pullman; all of Pullman’s 28 rural and city precincts favor Handy. There are 69 precincts in the county.

An estimated 3,500 ballots remain to be counted with the next count scheduled for Monday evening. A mandatory recount will be conducted “if the difference in the number of votes cast for the apparent winner and the closest apparently defeated opponent is less than 150 votes and also less than one-fourth of one percent of the total number of votes cast for both candidates,” according to state RCWs.

As of the second count, all county levies retained 50% or greater approval.

Total ballots counted as of Nov. 6 is 16,797.