Counties certify election results, and Wilkeson, Black Diamond races flip from election night

Krista Farmer won the race for Wilkeson town council by 7 votes.

By Alex Bruell • November 29, 2021 4:00 pm
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In a race so close that write-ins and undervotes could have swayed the outcome, Krista Farmer will be on Wilkeson’s town council instead of Shalon VanHoof, who had secured a lead in the race in initial ballot returns.

Farmer received 55 votes, or 52.4 percent of the ballot, while VanHoof took 48 votes, or 45.7 percent. Another two people voted for write-in candidates, and six people turned in “undervotes,” or ballots that didn’t vote one way or another in the race.

Coincidentally, that razor-thin margin means those eight voters who went third-party or no-party could have swung the election.

That’s according to the certified election results released in Pierce and King County on Nov. 23. All counties were required to have their final ballot totals from the November election tallied by that date, and the Secretary of State certifies the final state results by no later than Dec. 2.

It wasn’t the only Plateau race that changed in the certified results. Glen Yadon, who held 56.8 percent of the vote initially for Black Diamond City Council Pos. 2, fell in the final results to Trish Stallard. By vote count, Stallard ultimately won the race 841 to 710.

All other candidates who were up in the initial election night returns reported by this newspaper appear to have won their races.

Anyone requesting a recount in a race must do so within two business days of a county or the Secretary of State declaring the official results of that race.

King County ultimately saw 43.4 percent voter turnout. Only around 32.3 percent of registered Pierce County voters turned out this time.

Several races were uncontested and thus not reported in this paper. The highlights from those elections include:

• Enumclaw mayor Jan Molinaro earning re-election with 2,305 votes (134 voted for write-in candidates.)

• Black Diamond mayor Carol Benson earning re-election with 1,050 votes (117 voted for write-in candidates.)

• Wilkeson mayor Jeff Sellers earning re-election with 86 votes (11 voted for write-in candidates, and 14 turned in undervotes.)

To see all of the results for yourself, visit:

Pierce County: https://www.piercecountywa.gov/DocumentCenter/View/109343/11-2-21-Election-Results

King County: https://results.vote.wa.gov/results/20211102/king/