2 North Thurston School Board members competed for the same seat. Here’s what happened.

Voters had a tough choice in North Thurston Public Schools, where two experienced school board members faced off for the same position.

In early returns, Chuck Namit was holding a lead over Marcia Coppin for the District No. 2 seat. Coppin recently moved and wanted to stay on the board.

About 800 votes separated them.

“Close race! Still hopeful,” Coppin texted an Olympian reporter.

Namit was not available for comment.

The school district, which has about 15,000 students, also had a contested race for its District No. 1 seat. In early returns, Gretchen Maliska had a 2 to 1 lead over Stephen Capps for the seat previously held by Coppin.

Maliska is the Career Technical Education program manager for the neighboring Olympia School District. She has served as an executive administrator of a K-8 private school.

Elsewhere, Melissa (Mel) Hartley, who was appointed to the District No. 3 seat in February, was re-elected without a challenger. She practices and teaches health law and ethics at Madigan Army Medical Center.

This story was originally published November 7, 2017 at 9:19 PM with the headline "2 North Thurston School Board members competed for the same seat. Here’s what happened.."