Tuesday night tallies not decisive in many local races

Close races in initial election tallies Tuesday night left some local candidates holding out hope they can close the gap as more ballots trickle in.

In the Port of Olympia race, incumbent commissioner Joe Downing was leading challenger Helen Wheatley in early returns. Downing, who is looking to earn a second four-year term, had 19,457 votes to Wheatley’s 17,369.

Downing told The Olympian he expected his roughly 5 percentage point margin to hold up. But Wheatley said Tuesday night the race was close enough that she was not ready to concede.

“Everybody tells me that in port races it often happens this way,” she said of initial results.

Turnout in Thurston County as of Tuesday’s vote count was 22 percent with an estimated 15,000 ballots left to count. The next vote count was scheduled to be released at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

In the race for Olympia mayor, Cheryl Selby was leading Nathaniel Jones in early returns. Selby, running for a second four-year term, had 4,178 votes compared to 3,524 for Jones, who has served on Olympia City Council since 2012.

“I had anticipated it would be close and I’m not surprised by these results,” Jones said. “I feel as though it’s close. We had a similar result in the primary, so we’ll be watching the count every night.”

The mayor’s race centered on the city’s response to homelessness. Jones called for a more ambitious response, while Selby largely defended the city’s current, broad-based approach while calling on other jurisdictions to be more involved.

Two other Olympia council races on the ballot Tuesday appear to be settled. Incumbent Jessica Bateman and newcomer Dani Madrone were leading those races.

In the Position No. 2 race, Bateman had 4,885 votes, ahead of Phyllis Booth with 2,606 votes.

“They’re really strong results and I’m very confident in them,” said Bateman, who made affordable housing and homelessness top issues on the campaign trail. “I think the results demonstrate the issues I ran on are important to Olympians.”

For Position No. 3, Madrone had 5,054 votes while Matt Goldenberg had 2,295. That seat is currently held by Jones.

Olympia council members are all elected by voters across the city, not by wards or districts. Council members serve four-year terms.

Madrone, who previously served as a community member on The Olympian’s editorial board, said she looks forward to working on policies around housing and climate change.

“I think there’s a lot of optimism in the city for where we can go on these controversial issues, and at the same time there’s a lot of frustration,” she said. “I want to help be a bridge on some of these really controversial issues we’re facing.”

Lacey and Tumwater

Lacey City Council challenger Ed Kunkel Jr. was holding a narrow lead over incumbent Lynda Zeman in the Position No. 3 race: Kunkel had 3,231 votes to Zeman’s 2,997 votes.

Zeman, who was appointed to the council earlier this year to fill Rachel Young’s seat, said Tuesday night she was still optimistic.

“I expected a close race,” she said. “Let’s wait a few more days.”

Incumbent Lenny Greenstein was leading challenger Harald Jones for the Position No. 2 seat. Greenstein, who is looking for a third term on the council, had 3,210 votes in the first tally while Jones had 2,873 votes.

“I’m pleased,” Jones said. “I didn’t want to get annihilated and I didn’t. It’s very encouraging. My hard work has paid off.”

Position No. 1 candidate Malcolm Miller had a large lead over his opponent Sarah Jean Morris. Both were running to fill the seat currently held by Jason Hearn, who chose not to run for reelection.

Miller was leading Morris 3,646 votes to 2,524.

Lacey City Council members serve four-year terms.

In Tumwater, three of the four incumbent City Council members on the ballot were leading.

In the Position No. 1 race, Leatta Dahlhoff was leading Pamela J. Hanson with 1,853 votes to 1,027 votes. For Position No. 3, incumbent Joan Cathey was leading with 1,745 votes ahead of Michael Pavlich with 1,188 votes.

But in the Position No. 7 race, newcomer Charlie Schneider was leading Neil McClanahan, the former undersheriff who has served on the council since 2004. Schneider had 1,693 votes to McClanahan’s 1,237 votes.

Incumbent Tom Oliva ran unopposed for the Position No. 2 seat.

Ballot measures

Thurston County voters were overwhelmingly supporting Proposition 1, a sales tax increase to fund replacement of the county’s emergency radio communications system. The first tally shows 28,868 voters giving it a thumbs up, while 11,520 voted no.

Prop 1’s passage would be a win for TCOMM 911, which fields emergency phone calls for all of Thurston County and dispatches public safety responders. The dispatch center is looking to replace the analog radio system it has used for 40 years.

County voters approved the current tax of 1 cent per $10 purchase in 2002. This year the Legislature passed a bill giving counties the authority to increase the tax with voter approval.

If a simple majority of voters approve, the tax would go up to 2 cents per $10 purchase, netting about $4.45 million a year for TCOMM 911.

On statewide measures, Thurston County voters were evenly split on Initiative 976, which would cut car tab fees to $30 and largely eliminate state and local governments’ ability to add taxes and fees without voter approval.

The Tim Eyman-backed measure was passing statewide in early returns.

A measure to reinstate the use of affirmative action in Washington was losing among Thurston County voters, though by a closer margin than it was statewide.

Election results will be certified Nov. 26.

This story was originally published November 6, 2019 at 3:26 PM.