In an e-mail sent out today by the Peter Goldmark for Public Lands Commissioner, Goldmark states:
“We always knew this was going to be a close election. As of 3:30pm today, we have 50.89% of the votes. With many ballots left to be counted, especially in King, Snohomish, Pierce and Spokane Counties, we are cautiously optimistic about last night’s returns.”
The Secretary of State’s election website gives the following breakdown as of 5:05 PM today:
Peter Goldmark……861,395 votes …… 50.70%
Doug Sutherland….837,727 votes ….. 49.30%
A county by county breakdown show Goldmark winning in 6 counties by the following margins:
King County ……….63.17% to 36.83%
Jefferson County ……….59.78% to 40.22%
Whatcom County ……….54.14% to 45.86%
Snohomish County ………52.23% to 47.77%
Cowlitz County ……….52.19% to 47.81%
Okanogan County ………51.20% to 48.80%
Sutherland is slightly ahead in Pierce County by 52.77% to 47.23% and in Spokane County by 51.23% to 48.77%.
Obviously the outcome will be affected by the proportion of votes coming from each County that has not yet been counted. Any votes remaining from King County, which represents about a third of the state’s voters, heavily tilts the results towards Goldmark winning. Because return ballots mailed by voters yesterday may still not have been received by the counties, this race remains up in the air and will for at least a few more days.
King County election results were last updated at 2:30 P.M. today. They report that out of 1,108,128 registered voters in King County that they have counted, some 251,439 poll ballots were cast and some 194,753 absentee ballots have been counted. This total of 446,252 votes counted so far represents some 40.2% of the voters. Turnout is estimated to be around 80% or more so only about half the potential votes cast have been counted in King County as of now.
6:37 PM update 11/5/2008
Peter Goldmark …..867,784 …..50.68%
Doug Sutherland ….844,403 ….49.32%
Right now Goldmark leads by 23,381 votes.
