Two-vote margin leads to recount in this Pierce County race
Update: The Pierce County Elections Office has finalized results. The recount did not change the numbers, and John Caverly has won this race by two votes.
Initial post: Pierce County has finalized results from the Nov. 4 election – but one race is up for a recount, with just two votes separating the candidates.
The race is for Position 3 on the Central Pierce Fire & Rescue Board of Commissioners. The fire agency covers 178 miles of Pierce County – including Puyallup, Parkland, Spanaway, Midland, Summit and Frederickson.
Election officials certified the results of the Nov. 4 election on Tuesday, and candidate John Caverly currently has 17,474 votes to opponent Dale Mitchell’s 17,472. Kyle Haugh, elections manager for the Pierce County Elections Office, told The News Tribune there were 4,254 undervotes and 131 write-ins. An undervote means that someone cast a ballot but didn’t choose a candidate in this race.
Haugh said they have certified those results, and will now conduct a recount at 9 a.m. on Dec. 1. The recount results will be final and certified by 3:30 p.m. that day.
The Board of Commissioners consists of four commissioners and a member of the Puyallup City Council who has a seat on the board. Commissioners have many responsibilities, such as:
- Approving the annual budget.
- Employing and supervising the fire chief.
- Determining “the type and level of funding and tax levies.”
- Creating goals for the organization and determining levels of service.
- Deciding what the long-term vision of CPFR looks like.
Who are the candidates?
Caverly, who is currently leading by two votes, is an emergency medical technician (EMT). EMTs are first responders that provide basic medical care for critically ill or injured patients, and transport them to a hospital.
He wants to use his skills in his home community, but is not allowed to – so instead, he volunteers with Okanogan County Fire District 12 once a month.
“Our EMS system is set up around fire – and just EMTs, just paramedics that don’t want to do firefighting are relegated to the role of private EMS, which pays by far a much lower wage,” Caverly said. “The hours are not as good and the benefits really suck.”
CPFR does not allow volunteers at all, Caverly said, and the stations that do allow volunteers on the West Coast want paramedics with firefighting experience.
“The majority of calls in our system are 911 EMS calls,” Caverly said. “We don’t have as many fires – we’re not having as many rescues. Why should we disregard a pool of responders who don’t or can’t be firefighters for health reasons?”
Caverly said he has diabetes, which makes firefighting out of the question – but he prides himself on his skills as an EMT.
“I thought, maybe if I get into a fire commissioner [role] I could help maybe, you know, give back to my local community and use my expertise to help the fire district,” Caverly said.
Mitchell has a wealth of experience – including a current seat on the board, representing Position 2. If Mitchell wins this election after the recount, he will take over Position 3 and leave the Position 2 seat vacant.
He told The News Tribune that if he wins this race, the board will appoint someone to fill the seat on a temporary basis until the 2026 election. That person would then have to run for reelection. Mitchell would then serve in the Position 3 seat for four years, as opposed to the two years left in his current term in the Position 2 seat.
“I still enjoy this kind of work. It keeps my mind going and so I’ve been very successful at it, and so I decided to stay with it,” Mitchell told The News Tribune. “They asked if I would run one more time on this particular council position so I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll go ahead.’”
Mitchell has been a fire commissioner since 1989. He started on the board of Pierce County Fire District 8 in Edgewood, which merged into East Pierce Fire & Rescue in 2010. He served on the board of East Pierce Fire & Rescue afterward. Before he was a commissioner, he was a high school principal.
“I just sort of got into it and, I guess, just into the love of being a fire commissioner and the job was a good one, I was fit for that,” Mitchell said. “Most of my work as a principal was dealing with people and dealing with problems and I did the same with this.”
Mitchell said that, regardless of how this race turns out, he will still be on the board in some capacity – and he is most looking forward to help the agency develop the merger between CPFR, Orting Valley Fire & Rescue and Graham Fire & Rescue. Voters approved the merger during the April special election, and it will officially go into effect on Jan. 1, 2026.
“It’s become a much larger and much more complex move than we thought at first – but hey, it’s going to be great for those people [in OVFR and GFR]. They’re going to get real good protection: more fire protection, more EMS protection,” Mitchell said. “So that part is kind of my reason for sticking with this thing too, is to see it go and see it grow and see it become more meaningful, more helpful.”
What does the recount look like?
Haugh told The News Tribune that this race is eligible for a manual recount because there is just a two-vote difference. According to Haugh, the requirements for a recount are as follows:
A manual recount is required when the difference between the candidates is less than 150 votes and less than one-fourth of 1% of the total votes cast for both candidates. In this case, that threshold would be 87 votes.
A machine recount is required when the difference between the candidates is less than 2,000 votes and less than half of 1% of the total number of votes cast for both candidates. In this case, that threshold would be 174 votes.
If a race didn’t meet these qualifications but a candidate wanted to request a recount anyway, the candidate would have to pay the costs. For a machine recount, it would cost 25 cents per ballot and for a manual recount, it would cost 15 cents per ballot.
Caverly told The News Tribune that the manual recount would have cost CPFR $12,000 to $20,000. Because of these high costs, he and Mitchell signed an agreement with the county elections office to do a digital recount instead – which can happen under state law if both candidates agree to it.
Haugh sent The News Tribune the agreement, which outlines how the digital recount will work. The agreement says that both candidates, or a candidate representative, will be in the room while elections staff review each oval marked in this race – including undervotes, overvotes and write-ins.
“This process will be conducted in a tabulation room without physical handling of ballots, allowing for a faster and more cost-effective recount,” the document said.
Haugh said this digital recount won’t cost the district any money. Caverly said he and Mitchell agreed to the alternative method because they want CPFR to save the funds.
“We’re doing that because we want to be fiscally mindful and both of us are just passionate about getting it right, but we don’t want to do it at the expense of other things that we could be doing,” Caverly said. “Whether it’s taking the money we’re not spending on the recount and buying more turnout gear, and doing more public outreach.”
Mitchell said that, regardless of how the results turn out, he is looking forward to the rest of his time on the board.
“I’m perfectly willing to see what happens and if I get it, great, and if I don’t get it, I will continue on,” Mitchell said. “But I hope if he gets it, he does a good job.”
Caverly said believes that no matter what happens on Dec. 1, CPFR will be in good hands.
“I’m running against a really good man,” Caverly said. “We seem to have a pretty [good] agreement as to how things are going and so whoever wins, wins – and I will be glad for the winner.” Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include the results of the recount.
This story was originally published November 30, 2025 at 5:00 PM.
