Election night returns: Fagan headed for win; races in Rosalia, Pullman, Palouse close

Close races in Rosalia, Palouse and Pullman generated the only Election Night drama after the first count of ballots Tuesday.

Tuesday night’s count of 7,114 ballots represented 37 percent turnout from the county’s 19,376 registered voters. The next count will be today, Thursday, at 4 p.m.

Whitman County’s Rural Library District will have more tax money for operations next year because voters voted 65 percent in favor of boosting the library’s levy back up to 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value in 2010.

The levy rate had dropped under Initiative 747 which restricts tax districts to a one percent annual gain in property tax revenue unless voters approve a higher rate. Tuesday, county voters approved.

Also, voters in Endicott, Farmington and Malden supported a proposition to be added into the library district. The change means residents in those towns will be taxed directly by the library district.

Pullman Republican Susan Fagan appeared to be cruising to a victory in her campaign against Mesa Republican Pat Hailey to become 9th Legislative District Representative.

Fifty-nine percent of Whitman County voters gave their vote to Fagan in the district’s first match-up between two candidates from the same party. Fagan earned 3,667 votes to Hailey’s 2,408.

Fagan’s lead held strong across the 9th District as of Tuesday, as the 11,421 votes counted in her favor accounted for 55 percent of the total. Hailey received 9,222 percent of the vote for 45 percent.

The hot Rosalia Mayor’s race was too close to call after the initial count. Brady Kiesz held a tight 110-102 edge over Jim Stenhouse, a member of the current council. The two are vying to replace long-time Mayor Ken Jacobs, who is stepping down at the end of the year.

Kiesz topped a four-candidate ticket which sought to overturn the city hall lineup at Rosalia.

Two of the other challengers on the reform ticket also posted leads. Dannette Merritt held a 147-61 lead to oust incumbent Ron Hilfiker, and Karen Rockness held a 123 to 87 advantage over Erin Braun for the seat vacated by Stenhouse.

Incumbent councilman Dan Brown received 129 votes, and appeared set to hold off challenger Pat Voge, who received 79.

In Pullman, Dave Gibney held an ultra-slim five vote edge over Jeff Hawbaker in the race to replace Anne Heath as the council representative from Ward 3. Initial returns showed Gibney with 276 votes and Hawbaker with 271.

A pair of races for vacant seats on the Palouse City Council also resulted in election night counts that were too close to call.

Randy Zehm held a 148 to 131 lead over Cecil Floyd for seat three, while David Arrasmith had a 12-vote edge, 140-128, over Roger Marcus for seat seven on the council.

Elections officials Tuesday night had on hand 1,584 ballots that arrived in Tuesday’s mail and 146 ballots from the drop box in the courthouse. Thursday’s count will include ballots mailed in by voters on election day along with those received from a drop box in Pullman City Hall.

Thus far, 34 ballots have been flagged for the county canvass board.

Statewide election returns accounted for a 28.2 percent turnout from the state’s 3,583,278 registered voters.

Whitman County voters fell in line with statewide results in voting down Tim Eyman’s Initiative 1033, which would have limited the growth of government revenues to the rate of inflation. Local voters voted 65 percent against the measure. Statewide it appeared to be voted down with 55 percent voting against it.

County voters, though, bucked the trend in the other statewide measure, Referendum 71. Whitman County voted 56 percent to reject the measure that would give same-sex and senior domestic partners the same rights as married couples. R-71 received 51 percent approval in state results after Tuesday’s count.

The only local funding option in danger of failing was a $67,000 maintenance and operations measure for the Oakesdale Park and Recreation District. As of Tuesday, the measure received 141 yes votes and 96 no votes for a 59 percent approval rating, just shy of the 60 percent supermajority needed for approval.

In the lone contested race for a fire district seat, David Mitchell of Steptoe received 172 votes to top Terry Cochran’s 129 for position three on the Fire District 11 board.

Down south in the 16th Legislative District, LaCrosse native Terry Nealey, R-Dayton, led Laura Grant, D-Walla Walla. in the race for a one-year post, 12,804 to 9,287. Grant was appointed to the seat earlier this year, after her father, long-time Democratic legislator Bill Grant of Walla Walla died.

Nealey is the son of the late Darwin Nealey, LaCrosse Republican who represented the 9th District from 1982 to 1992.

A full set of Whitman County results for contested races is on page four.