Fagan jumps to quick lead Hailey, Stockwell close behind

Republicans Susan Fagan of Pullman and Pat Hailey of Mesa grabbed the lead in Tuesday’s “top two” primary election for 9th district state representative.

Ritzville Democrat Glenn Stockwell ran a close third in the first count, just 75 votes behind Hailey. That close finish means the primary result will still be on the table until all the late arriving ballots are tallied.

Fagan garnered 28.8 percent of the vote in the six-county ninth district with 5,357 votes. Hailey was second with 4,769, good for 25.64 percent, but just barely ahead of Stockwell’s 4,694.

Total election night count for the four full counties in the 9th District – Adams, Asotin, Garfield and Whitman – was just under 30 percent of the registered voters. The number of registered voters in the ninth district segments of Franklin and Spokane counties was not available at press time.

The five candidates were vying to replace Don Cox, R-Colfax, for a one-year term in the legislature. Cox took the post when the late Steve Hailey of Mesa, Pat Hailey’s husband, resigned due to cancer in December.

The two candidates receiving the most votes will square off in the November general election.

Art Swannack of Lamont finished fourth with 2,258 votes, 12 percent, and Darin Watkins of Palouse booked 1,519 votes for eight percent.

In Whitman County returns, Fagan and Stockwell were the top two vote-getters with 36 and 22 percent respectively.

Whitman County’s Tuesday night count included 5,388 ballots. That total represents just over 26 percent of the total mailout of 20,559 ballots.

Among the uncounted are 579 ballots which were received in the mail at the auditor’s office Tuesday, too late for processing for the Tuesday night count. Another stack of ballots mailed by voters on election day, was expected in the Wednesday mail.

Also, ballots dropped off at collection boxes in Colfax and Pullman and ballots Tuesday will be tallied in the next count.

Fagan led Whitman County returns with 1,948 votes and Stockwell placed second with 1,177. Swannack placed third in the county with 874 votes, 16 percent; Hailey received 797 for 15 percent, and Watkins received 561 votes for 10 percent.

In the three-way race for position two on the LaCrosse City Council, Dennis Mackleit and Gary Wargo qualified for the November race. Mackleit pulled in 70 votes from the town’s 223 active voters, while Wargo received 45. Lois Kendrick garnered seven votes.

Fire District 10’s $75,000 tanker truck levy proposal was well on the way to passing after initial returns gave it a 68 percent approval. Tuesday night’s count included 76 of the 173 active voters in the rural district in the Oakesdale/Farmington area.