More ballots have been counted but local Covington and Maple Valley races are trending the same as election night, with some races becoming even closer to a tie than previously.

The race between Incumbent Covington City Councilmember Jennifer Harjehausen and challenger Elizabeth Porter has been a tight race, fluctuating between 10-20 vote difference. On Tuesday, Nov. 12, the margins started to widen by just under 100 votes, or just over 1 percentage point.

King County Elections Spokesperson Halei Watkins said the race could fall into legal recount territory by certification day, Nov. 26. In King County, an election legally has to have a machine recount if a race has less than a 2,000 vote difference or if the race has a 0.5 percent difference. Watkins said most recounts qualify by the percentage, especially in smaller cities like Covington.

Watkins said on Friday, Nov. 8, there were three races the county was watching for potential recounts; Bothel City Council, Covington and Mercer Island.

“We haven’t had to do a recount in a while,” Watkins said. “We are still counting a lot of ballots, and ballots are trickling in.”

As of Tuesday, King County has just about 1,800 more ballots to count.

Watkins said recounts in recent history have not changed the original election outcome. If a legal recount is necessary it would take between seven to 10 business day to re-certify the race. Watkins said Covington is unique because there was at least 38 ballots on Friday that had signature verification issues.

Either candidates could also request a recount by the county after the race is certified.

Here is the latest election results as of Tuesday.

Covington City Council Pos. 1

Incumbent Marlla Mhoon – 37.31 percent or 1,758 votes.

Challenger Kristina Soltys – 62.20 percent or 2,931 votes.

Write-in – 0.49 percent or 23 votes.

Covington City Council Pos. 2

Incumbent Jennifer Harjehausen – 50.64 percent or 2,309 votes.

Challenger Elizabeth Porter – 48.66 percent or 2,219 votes.

Write- in – 0.70 percent or 32 votes.

Covington City Council Pos. 3

Jared Koukal – 97.85 percent or 3,365 votes.

Write-in – 2.15 percent or 74 votes.

Covington City Council Pos. 5

Incumbent Sean Smith – 51.88 percent or 2,359 votes.

Challenger Jonathan Ingram – 47.70 percent or 2,169 votes.

Write-in – 0.42 percent or 19 votes.

Covington City Council Pos. 7 / Mayor

Jeff Wagner – 97.70 percent or 3,360 votes.

Write-in – 2.30 percent or 79 votes.

Covington Advisory Proposition No. 1 – Fireworks ban

Yes – 53.40 percent or 2,663 votes.

No – 46.60 percent or 2,324 votes.

Maple Valley City Council Pos. 1

Sean P. Kelly – 95.23 percent or 4,833 votes.

Write in – 4.77 percent or 242 votes.

Maple Valley City Council Pos. 3

Incumbent Les Burberry – 59.30 percent or 3,740 votes.

Challenger Victoria Schroff – 40.39 percent or 2,552 votes.

Write-in – 0.41 percent or 26 votes.

Maple Valley City Council Pos. 5

Incumbent Syd Dawson – 70.67 percent or 4,373 votes.

Challenger Richard Axtell – 28.83 percent or 2,784 votes.

Write-in – 0.50 percent or 31 votes.

Maple Valley City Council Pos. 7

Linda Johnson – 97.29 percent or 4,734 votes.

Write-in – 2.71 percent or 132 votes.

Tahoma School District Director No. 2

Katrina Montgomery – 97.57 percent or 7,896 votes.

Write-in – 2.43 percent or 197 votes.

Tahoma School District Director No. 3

Malia Hollowell – 59.60 percent or 6,586 votes.

Jamie Fairbanks – 39.87 percent or 4,406 votes.

Write-in – 0.83 percent or 59 votes.

Tahoma School District Director No. 4

Pete Miller – 85.33 percent or 9,198 votes.

Stormy (Lea) Rigtrup – 14.01 percent or 1,510 votes.

Write-in – 0.66 percent or 71 votes.