Auditor
Election Results
| Candidate | Votes | Pct |
|---|---|---|
| Leonard Christian (R) | 71,713 | 43.75% |
* Race percentages are calculated with data from the Secretary of State's Office, which omits write-in votes from its calculations when there are too few to affect the outcome. The Spokane County Auditor's Office may have slightly different percentages than are reflected here because its figures include any write-in votes.
The Candidates
Leonard Christian
- Party:
- Republican
- Age:
- 59
- City:
- Spokane Valley, Washington
Education: Graduated from Ferris High School in 1984. Christian completed an associate degree from the College of the Air Force just before retiring from the military and went on to complete a degree in aeronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Graduated with a master's of business from Webster University.
Work Experience: Has worked as a real estate agent for Live Real Estate since 2014. Previously was a real estate agent for Windermere Real Estate and before that worked for Thomas and Black Real Estate. Christian was in the Air Force from 1984 to 2005, working many jobs, including aircraft mechanic and security specialist. He retired with the rank of master sergeant.
Political Experience: Elected to state House in 2022. Appointed to a seat in the Washington State Legislature in 2014 to fill the remainder of Larry Crouse's term. He lost primary election against Bob McCaslin Jr. to keep the seat in August 2014. Lost close election for Spokane County assessor in 2018. Is a founding member of Republicans of Spokane County and served as vice chairman and chairman of the organization.
Family: Married to Rima Christian and has two children.
Campaign fundraising: Raised more than $50,000 as of Oct. 1, 2024, according to the state Public Disclosure Commission. Contributions include a $6,000 cash loan to himself. Notable donors include Kaiser Aluminum; the Chevron Company; Avista; DoorDash; Max Kuney, owner of Kuney Construction and husband of Spokane County Commission Chair Mary Kuney; and the political action committees for the Associated General Contractors of the Inland Northwest, Koch Industries and the Washington Hospitality Association.
Complete Coverage
Equipment, legalities create ballot-counting bottlenecks
Washington’s election system has many virtues, but speed isn’t one of them. Only 40.6 percent of last month’s Spokane County general election ballots were counted on election night.
Voters vent frustrations with GOP gains in county, state
Democrat Chris Marr conceded defeat Wednesday night in the record-breaking million-dollar battle for a Spokane County state Senate seat. Marr made up some ground in the second day of ballot counting against Republican Michael Baumgartner, but he said it was too little to make a difference.
State takes blame for election website crashes
Washington has killer election websites when they work. “There is no state in the country that has this sophisticated an election-night reporting system,” state Elections Director Nick Handy said.
Editorial: Let Dalton continue strong work as auditor
In his campaign for Spokane County auditor, Republican Leonard Christian has been loudly critical of incumbent Democrat Vicky Dalton’s oversight of elections. That’s only one of the auditor’s four major responsibility areas, but Christian says he emphasizes it because so many voters tell him they’re concerned about the security of their ballots. And he warns that there is tremendous potential for fraud in that arena.
Election staff breached security
A security breach in the Spokane County election office was precipitated by delivery of thousands of ballot envelopes with Auditor Vicky Dalton’s name on them. Republicans have complained that Dalton, a Democrat, is electioneering when she places her name on mail-in ballot envelopes.
Ballot envelopes disputed over auditor’s name, status
A Republican complaint to the state Public Disclosure Commission accuses Spokane County Auditor Vicky Dalton of electioneering by printing her name prominently on ballot envelopes. Dalton dismisses the complaint out of hand, but the Disclosure Commission doesn’t.
Spokane County auditor will heed critics’ ideas
Democratic Spokane County Auditor Vicky Dalton says she’ll implement some good ideas from her Republican critics. Dalton made the announcement Friday at a meeting of the county Canvassing Board, which is established by state law to review and certify elections.
Spokane County auditor race
Vicky Dalton, seeking a fourth four-year term as auditor, is challenged by Realtor Leonard Christian.
Panel clears assessor’s employee of leave complaint
An assessor’s office employee’s complaint that a co-worker took unreported leave was unfounded, according to a report The Spokesman-Review obtained Tuesday. The report, released under a public disclosure request, documents an investigation by a committee of Spokane County officials from outside the assessor’s office.
Primary costs multiplied by precinct committee officer races
Local taxpayers shelled out hundreds of thousands of dollars in the Aug. 17 primary to help political parties elect their precinct committee officers. The primary would have cost taxpayers in Spokane County only $42,314 if state law didn’t give political parties a free ride.
GOP questions ballot security in letter to county auditor
Republican Party leaders expressed concerns this week about the security of ballots mailed during the August primary to the Spokane County elections office. County party Chairwoman Cindy Zapotocky wrote county Auditor Vicky Dalton that a Republican observer saw uncovered trays of ballots being picked up at the downtown post office by a courier service contracted with the county. Zapotocky alleges that the courier made other stops with the ballots in his truck before dropping off the ballots at the elections office.
French hangs on for general election
A final vote count in last month’s primary election, to be certified today, didn’t turn around any races or trigger an automatic recount. Republican county commissioner candidate Al French retained a narrow lead Tuesday over Republican Jeff Holy and will advance to the Nov. 2 general election. French will face incumbent Democrat Bonnie Mager.
County getting out of passport business
Today is the last day to apply for a passport at the Spokane County Auditor’s Office.
Auditor will no longer process passports
Passports will not be available through the Spokane County auditor’s office after Aug. 31. Auditor Vicky Dalton said it is no longer cost-effective for her licensing office to process the applications.
Mayoral race undecided
The results of this month’s Spokane County election were certified on Tuesday, but the counting isn’t over. Elections officials next week will recount by hand the votes cast in the race for Airway Heights mayor.