Group backing GOP candidate pays $31K for hand recount of loss in Kitsap sheriff's race

Supporters of the Republican candidate for Kitsap County sheriff on Thursday plopped down a $31,000 cash deposit for a hand recount of the roughly 124,500 ballots cast in the election they lost last month, an effort a fundraising appeal described as for “election integrity.”

The margin was not close in the Nov. 8 election that Democrat John Gese won over Republican Rick Kuss. Gese took more than 58% of the vote, or 70,628 votes. Kuss received nearly 42%, or 50,875 votes.

Aside from helping the group of his supporters raise money for the effort, Kuss said he was not involved and was not contesting the results of the election.

When asked if people would view this as denying the results of the election, Kuss said he hoped they would not.

“Because that’s not what it is,” Kuss said. “This is me on the sidelines watching concerned citizens verify the results.”

Since former President Donald Trump's loss in 2020 to President Joe Biden, Republicans across the country have raised concerns about the integrity of elections, often with evidence taken from spurious claims circulating on social media.

The most notable episode of election denying occurred on Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of Trump's supporters rioted at the U.S. Capitol, but last month's mid-term election saw a spate of losing GOP candidates cast doubt on the integrity of elections. A Republican-controlled county in Arizona, claiming it was concerned about the machines used to count ballots, refused to certify the election until Thursday when a judge ordered it to do so.

William B. Campbell of Bremerton, who is leading the hand recount effort, declined to answer questions when contacted Friday by a reporter.

However, Campbell provided a written statement to the Kitsap Sun praising the Kitsap County elections department for doing a “phenomenal job of making the elections process as transparent as possible.” The statement then raised concerns about whether the tabulating machines used by the county accurately tally votes.

“I don’t think the county can provide a copy of the software that can be analyzed by software engineers, so a hand recount is one check we can commission to verify that the tabulating machines did in fact tally the votes correctly,” Williams wrote in the statement.

Williams responded to a follow-up question to say the money came from registered voters through donations and unsecured loans.

“No political party or campaign was involved in the deposit made with the recount request,” Campbell wrote.

Kuss said he expects the hand recount would not alter the final numbers.

“My expectation is the hand recount will match the tabulation count,” Kuss said. “I would expect that to match perfectly.”

Gese did not respond to a voicemail seeing comment.

Auditor Paul Andrews, the county’s chief elections officer, said his office is working to establish the process to hire workers, set aside space and hand count the ballots. He estimated it will take about two weeks to conduct the count and believed the final cost would likely be covered by the deposit.

Andrews said he expects the hand count would produce results “exactly or fairly close” to the machine count.

“We do find that from time to time in a hand recount there may be a ballot or two where the voter intent might be reversed,” he said.

The office last performed a hand recount in 2018 to settle a tight race in the 26th legislative district between state Sen. Emily Randall, D-Bremerton, and Republican Marty McClendon of Gig Harbor. In that recount, which Randall won by 102 votes, or 0.14%, two votes were reversed.

Campbell’s group has been raising money on a Christian crowdfunding website GiveSendGo setting a goal of $50,000. As of Friday, it raised about $7,850.

The pitch on the fundraising site says the group’s goal is not to overturn the election results, “merely to trust but verify them.”

It suggests that because Kuss campaigned extensively after the primary contest he should have performed stronger in the general election, casting doubt on the computerized system the county uses to count ballots.

“Rick's primary percentages were almost the same as the general election results,” the fundraising pitch says. “Since the primary, Rick's team worked hard going door to door, sending out mailers, phone calls, texts and hosting events. This general election HART intercivic tabulation system needs a deeper look.”

Kuss said he was not involved in crafting the pitch.

Gese was appointed sheriff last year by county commissioners and won his first election with backing by the union representing deputies. He campaigned on experience, rising from a patrol deputy in 1991 to undersheriff before former Sheriff Gary Simpson retired mid-term.

Kuss, a retired Navy officer, has never worked as a law enforcement officer but told voters he would put into action crime-reducing practices he learned while completing a master’s degree in criminal justice. He criticized Gese’s endorsement of local lawmakers who supported police reform measures and aligned himself with the Constitutional Sheriffs Association, which holds that sheriffs have the power to decide the constitutionality of laws.

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Group pays $31K for hand recount of GOP loss in Kitsap sheriff's race