By Sue Lani Madsen | The Center Square contributor

(The Center Square) – For Patrick Bell, the race to represent northeast Washington in Olympia won’t be over until the last ballot is cured and counted.

“I’m suspending the campaign until certification on August 20th, to focus on curing eligible ballots of voters who cast Republican votes,” he told The Center Square.

Bell is a long-time Republican campaign volunteer and formerly served on the staff of Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers.

Bell currently trails Democratic candidate Paul “Rocky” Dean by 1,523 votes in the battle for second place. Hunter Abell, also running as a Republican, has secured the top position with 34.72% of the vote.

The open seat has been held by Rep. Joel Kretz, R-Wauconda, since 2004.

Ballot chasers contact voters whose ballot was postmarked or placed in a drop box on time but was rejected, usually for lack of signature or physical damage obscuring voter intent. Curing a ballot refers to the process spelled out for correcting those flaws.

Bell pointed out in a statement Thursday that he had already closed the gap to 3.56% and hoped the trend continued. “There are 1,900 or so ballots left to count. I closed from an 8.7% gap on Primary Night. Late counts zig zagged, but mostly in my favor.”

Ballot chase efforts are underway in several close races across the state. Voters can check the status of their ballot at VoteWA.gov, or the status of a ballot of a family member or friend by entering the full name and birth date. The system cannot identify how a voter has voted, only whether the ballot has been accepted for counting. Ballot chasers rely on other data sources to cross check rejected ballots with the names of voters they expect to be supporters.

Abell and Dean did not respond to requests for comment.