Canvas board nixes 101 ballots

Whitman County elections officials were slated to send off final results of the Aug. 18 primary for certification Wednesday. The county canvas board Tuesday rejected 101 ballots, 66 of which were postmarked past the Aug. 18 deadline.

Of the remaining 35 rejects, 24 could not have signatures verified, eight lacked signatures, one could not be identified and one envelope was returned without a ballot.

One ballot was rejected as an overvote because all the ovals except for the one beside Democrat Glenn Stockwell’s name were filled in.

The canvas board accepted seven ballots that had questionable signatures.

Whitman County returns in the race to replace Don Cox in the state Legislature were out of step with returns from across District 9.

Susan Fagan of Pullman and Pat Hailey of Mesa topped district-wide results, but in Whitman County Fagan and Glenn Stockwell of Ritzville finished first one-two.

The final Whitman County tally put Fagan at 36 percent with 2,502 votes, Stockwell at 21 percent with 1,440 votes, Art Swannack at 16 percent with 1,098 votes, Hailey at 15 percent with 1,035 votes and Darin Watkins at 11 percent at 734 percent.

Fagan topped District 9 returns with 29 percent of the vote, followed by Hailey at 26 percent, Stockwell at 24 percent, Swannack at 12 percent and Watkins at 8 percent.

Dennis Mackleit and Gary Wargo will be the two candidates in the general election for LaCrosse City Council, as they topped election returns in the primary. Mackleit finished with 79 votes for 54 percent, while Wargo finished with 57 votes for 39 percent. Lois Kendrick received seven votes to finish out of the running in third place.

The Fire District 10 levy proposal for $75,000 to purchase a used fire truck and a quick response truck passed with 71 percent, 63 votes “yes” to 26 “no.”