SEATTLE – Environmentalist attorney Mike McGinn has slightly increased his lead over T-Mobile executive Joe Mallahan in the race to be Seattle's next mayor.
With about 65 percent of the expected votes counted, McGinn led Mallahan by 515 votes after King County officials released more votes Thursday afternoon. About 130,000 votes have been counted. McGinn led by 462 votes on Wednesday afternoon.
"60,000 left to count, so we're still quite optimistic, but obviously it was sort of a break-even today," said Mallahan.
McGinn was not available for comment on Thursday.
If the current margin stands, it would trigger a recount.
In the August primary, McGinn and Mallahan outpolled Mayor Greg Nickels, a two-term incumbent, after he was dogged by criticism of the city's response to a December snowstorm that paralyzed Seattle for nearly two weeks.
What triggers a recount?
Under Washington state law, a machine recount occurs if the difference between the top two candidates is less than 2,000 votes and under 0.5 percent.
A manual recount will take place if the difference is less than 150 votes and less than 0.25 percent.
A candidate can request a recount, but he or she has to pay for it. It's 15 cents per ballot in a machine count and 25 cents per ballot in a hand count.
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