Roberts gains No. 2 at Colfax: Lathim passes Caylor in Ninth District primary

Richard Lathim, the number three finisher in the race for Ninth District Representative on primary election night, moved into second place with a 60-vote margin after the six counties in the district conducted additional ballot counts last week.

Mary Dye of Pomeroy, who posted a strong election night win, picked up the most votes in the late counts for a strong finish.

The totals as of noon Monday were Dye 9,105, Lathim 4,818, and Kenneth Caylor of Othello 4,788.

Also, Jeremiah (JW) Roberts, who also finished in third in the Colfax mayoral race on election night, picked up 47 votes in Friday morning’s second count of ballots here to move into second place for a spot in the general election.

Roberts now has 210 votes, and Donald Henderson, who added just nine more votes in Friday’s count, now has 179.

Colfax incumbent Todd Vanek added another 45 votes in count and now has a 430 total for a strong primary win.

Friday’s count added 103 votes to the Colfax total.

Lathim picked up 653 in Franklin County, his home county, where he was the top vote getter on election night.

Caylor, Democrat, gained 396 votes in Whitman County where he marked his strongest finish.

Dye continued to out-pace the other two candidates with 1,857 more votes in the late ballot counts.

Lathim trailed Caylor by 186 votes on election night for the number-two spot. He collected another 126 votes in the last count in Whitman County.

The totals for Whitman County as of noon Friday were 3,198 for Dye, 811 for Lathim and 1,890 for Caylor.

The county elections office now has about 75 more ballots to count plus any ballots which gain approval by the election board which will convene Aug. 18 before the certification date of the election.

If Lathim’s slim edge holds up, the fall election race will feature a battle between the two Republicans who did most of the campaigning in the weeks before the primary.

Last Tuesday’s closest ballot finish, the 25-25 tie posted by incumbent Sharon Schnebly and Scott Bowman in the Garfield city council race for position one, now has 31 votes for Schnebly and 29 for Bowman.

Neal Leon, top finisher in the three-way race, picked up 12 more votes in Friday’s count for a total of 83.