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Joe Kent petitions state for recount in Washington 3rd Congressional District race

The campaign for Joe Kent, the Republican runner-up in the race for Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, announced Friday its request for a recount from the Secretary of State.

Kent’s campaign manager Ozzie Gonzalez released the following statement Friday:

As allowed by state law, our campaign will request a machine recount of all precincts in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District.

We believe the election workers did their best to ensure a fair election and count the ballots accurately, but given the close margin between the two campaigns, technical issues with the signature verifications software, and the obligation we have to our supporters to ensure certainty about the outcome, we believe a second tabulation is in order.

Per the procedure outlined by statute, we will submit our request for a recount on the day following certification by the Secretary of State.

According to The Associated Press, Democratic winner Marie Gluesenkamp Perez received 160,314 votes in the November election, or 50.4% of votes, while Kent received 157,685 votes, or 49.6% of votes.