Biden continues to lead Sanders in Washington state

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Former Vice President Joe Biden was continuing to lead Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in Washington’s vote-by-mail Democratic presidential primary as additional results were counted this week.

Biden led Friday by more than 29,000 votes after more than 2 million votes were counted. Of the state’s 89 pledged delegates, only 31 are allocated based on the statewide result. The remaining 58 are determined based on the results of the state’s 10 congressional districts, and those results might not be calculated until the election is certified by the secretary of state’s office, which could be as late as March 27.

Democrats are using the vote-by-mail presidential primary — moved up this year from May — for the first time to allocate delegates instead of the smaller caucuses used in previous years.

The Washington ballot had 13 candidates on it, along with an ‘uncommitted’ option. But because almost all of the candidates had dropped out by Tuesday’s primary, it was essentially a two-person race between former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. President Donald Trump was the only candidate listed for Republicans. Trump received more than 645,000 votes, and more than 10,000 Republicans wrote in an alternate candidate. More than 384,000 Democrats voted for candidates other than Biden or Sanders.

The counties are reporting at more than 120,000 ballots left to count, with most in King County.