Washington secretary of state certifies 2024 election results

Washington’s 2024 election is in the books. Well, almost.

Secretary of State Steve Hobbs and Gov. Jay Inslee certified the results on Wednesday — except for a recount of ballots cast in the duel for a state Senate seat in southwest Washington.

In that race, Democrat Adrian Cortes edged Republican Brad Benton by 172 votes, a difference of 0.2%. The winner will succeed retiring Republican Sen. Ann Rivers in the 18th Legislative District.

Aside from that contest in Clark County, voters’ decisions for the state’s executive, legislative and judicial offices on Nov. 5 are official. Washington will soon have a new state Supreme Court justice, four new statewide executives including governor, and roughly two dozen new members in the state Legislature.

Voters also approved a ballot measure blocking Washington’s efforts to phase out the use of natural gas in homes but there may soon be a court battle on the legality of that initiative. In the meantime, there’s no disputing results for three other initiatives that voters rejected.

Election officials predicted 80% of voters would cast a ballot. Washington came up just short of that mark with a turnout of 78.94% and 3,961,859 voters participating. That’s down from an 84% rate in 2020 when 4,116,894 people cast a ballot, but higher than in 2016.