King County Elections has certified Washington’s 5th Legislative District seat for the state Senate race between candidates Mark Mullet and Ingrid Anderson.

After the recount, Mullet has 58 more votes than Anderson. Prior to the recount, there was a 57-ballot difference. In total, 97,471 ballots were cast.

Hand recounts are required when the vote total difference between two candidates is less than 150 votes and less than 0.25% of the total number of votes cast for both candidates.

The results were certified during the canvassing board meeting held Wednesday, Dec. 16 and livestreamed from KCE’s Facebook Page (KCElections).

The board’s members, including Elections Director Julie Wise, Kevin Wright, Chief Civil Deputy for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and Carolyn Busch, Chief of Staff for King County Council, presided.

In addition to the mandatory hand recount in Legislative District 5, there were two requested recounts: WA’s 9th Congressional District in SEA 37-1895, KEN 47 -0842, KEN 47-2568, MI 41-0775, FED 30-3021 precincts (2,944 ballots); and the Rose Precinct (466 ballots). The 9th Congressional District’s recount was certified with Legislative District 5, while the Rose Precinct recount was certified on Dec. 8.

King County Elections certified the county’s 2020 general election results last November. Out of 1.4 million registered voters in King County, 87% turned out this election, breaking the last record of 85% in 2012. This year over 909,000 (73.9%) voters returned their ballots to ballot drop boxes, with more than 307,000 (24.98%) returning by mail and over 13,500 (1.1%) by email/fax. A little over 10,000 (0.85%) ballots were rejected for signature issues, and 707 (0.06%) were returned too late, making up just 0.91% of total ballots.