Washington County Commission casts deciding vote in District 13 tied race, electing Huffine

In an overcrowded courtroom, the Washington County Commission made a 14-1 vote to elect incumbent Republican Kenneth Huffine to serve as the District 13 representative on the county commission. The legislative body's vote breaks the tie race in the District 13 election between Huffine and Democrat Cynthia Humphrey. All 14 Republican commissioners voted to elect Huffine with Democrat Jodi Jones abstaining. Seven of the 14 Republican commissioners terms end Tuesday. "SHAME, SHAME, SHAME," shouted members in the audience at the commission meeting Monday night following its vote while others walked out before the vote was cast. Both candidates received 507 votes in the Aug. 6 county general election. The District 13 race also had one write-in vote, which could have broken the tie. More than 10 county residents spoke during public comment urging the full commission to pass a resolution calling for a runoff election. Among those who spoke included Humphrey, recent candidates for county commission Kathy Carr and Shelley Van Camp and Kristi Burke, Democratic congressional candidate for U.S. House in District 1. "Voters choose their representatives," Humphrey said. "Representatives do not choose their voters. Given that paradigm, the only fair, transparent and honest choice tonight would be to put forth a resolution to request a runoff for District 13 voters to make the decision in November." Humphrey added a runoff election would be at no extra expense to the county due to an election already being held on Nov. 3. Burke, who recently won the Democratic primary to be the District 1 U.S. House representative candidate on the November ballot, asked commissioners to "do the right thing" and "listen to the voters." "You don't have to choose a Republican tonight, and you don't have to choose a Democrat," Burke said. "Choose democracy. Send this race to the voters. Let the candidates make their cases. Let the people cast their ballots and whoever wins can take the seat, knowing they earned the consent of the people they represent." Under state law, the full commission is responsible for determining how the tie vote will be broken by casting a vote for either candidate or adopting a resolution to call for a runoff election with guidance from the county attorney. Washington County Attorney Allyson Wilkinson provided commissioners with a summarization of state law relevant to the determination of tie votes in elections prior to Monday night's meeting. Her memo recognizes the commission's right to cast a deciding vote or call for a runoff election. It also says if the commission decides to cast the deciding vote, all members, including Huffine, can vote without breaking state conflict of interest rules. Humphrey congratulated Huffine for his seat on the commission. She said the decision made Monday night did not surprise her, but she had hoped for a different outcome. "For the 507 voters that voted for me, I appreciate you. For the 507 that didn't vote for me, I also appreciate you," she said. "We are all part of this process. We can't do it with just one. You need both parties in there, and that's what I did." Humphrey said she will continue to stay active in local government and she plans to run again in four years.