With no new election results Wednesday, it remains unclear who Spokane’s next mayor will be. There are still a number of ballots to be counted.
SPOKANE, Wash. — At the end of election night, candidate Lisa Brown was leading the race for Spokane mayor. She thanked voters who voted to give her an early lead.
“It seems very good that many of you have your confidence in me to be the next mayor of Spokane,” Brown said. said at the Spokane Democrats’ watch party.
At the same time, Mayor Nadine Woodward also remained hopeful that she would continue to be Spokane’s leader.
“I believe we will catch up on these ballots and I will be your next mayor,” said Mayor Woodward. shared during his election watch party.
Even though he’s behind in terms of numbers, political expert Dr. Cornell Clayton said it’s time for the votes to swing in everyone’s favor.
“There are many votes that could determine the outcome and change the outcome as it appears on election night that have not yet been counted,” » said Dr. Clayton.
He added that there is a certain campaign psychology in the way a candidate behaves during an election.
“There are good reasons not to concede early because no one wants to have the problem of conceding, and then when the late votes come in, going back and taking back your concession,” Dr. Clayton said. “It puts you in a very awkward position.”
He explained that certain factors could lead to a possible influx of votes in favor of Woodward.
First, he explained how voters could vote to determine when the results would arrive.
“LLiberal or Democratic leaning, voters tend to cluster in urban areas where there are more drop boxes and where they use them more frequently,” Dr. Clayton said. “More rural voters, who tend to be Republican and conservative, more often send their ballots by regular mail.”
He also said there are voting trends between Democratic and Republican voters that can also influence the results.
“There is evidence to suggest that the first group is more likely to vote in off-year elections and that, due to differences in voter self-efficacy, they are more likely to vote early than the second group,” Dr. Clayton said.
In the past 50 years, only one mayor has been re-elected and served two terms in Spokane.
Dr. Clayton said being the incumbent president might not have as much influence as at the congressional level.
“Candidates for mayor and city council are not as well-known names as members of Congress, for example,” Dr. Clayton said. “And so the current benefits are less than they might otherwise be. And there is always a certain mood, especially when there is an economic concern among the electorate to vote against the party in power and to vote against the party in power.”
Time will tell if history will repeat itself or if Spokane’s next mayor will defy the odds.
Spokane County elections took a brief pause in processing ballots Wednesday after the discovery of a white, powdery substance found in a postal envelope.
Hours before polls closed Tuesday, voter turnout in the city of Spokane was 39.13 percent.
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