Huffman, Boyer, Clifthorne, Mitchell appear to advance in Olympia School Board races
Olympia School Board candidates Darcy Huffman and Mark Boyer both made strong showings in the District 3 race, while incumbent Scott Clifthorne had a commanding lead in the District 5 race, according to Tuesday’s early returns.
Two candidates for each position advance to the November general election ballot.
In the District 3 race, in which incumbent Leslie Huff chose not to run, Darcy Huffman was leading with 48.5 percent of the vote, followed by Mark Boyer at 35.9 percent. Candidate Gary Landis captured only 15 percent of the vote, early returns show.
Huff decided not to run because of family obligations, Olympia School District spokeswoman Susan Gifford said Tuesday.
Huffman has worked in retail banking for 25 years, while Boyer is an adviser and co-owner of a Kiley Juergens wealth management firm, according to voters’ guide information.
In the District 5 race, Scott Clifthorne led all vote-getters with 57.2 percent of the vote. He was followed by Don Mitchell at 27.2 percent and Rebecca Cornelius at 14.9 percent.
Clifthorne has served one term on the school board, and this was Mitchell’s first run for elected office. He is a nurse and an assistant professor of nursing at Saint Martin’s University, according to the voters’ guide.
Clifthorne is a former regional coordinator of the American Association of University Professors, according to the guide.
The county will certify the election results on Aug. 17 after additional ballot counts. Auditor Mary Hall estimates about 10,000 more ballots from county drop boxes have yet to be counted and mail-in ballots postmarked Tuesday are still on the way.
Only 40,000 ballots, amounting to 20.4% turnout, were counted Tuesday night.
This story was originally published August 3, 2021 at 9:39 PM.
