Dye, Vanek, Echanove post leads

Appointed state Rep. Mary Dye of Pomeroy received 65 percent of the votes Tuesday in a first count of ballots in the Ninth Legislative District to defeat Richard Lathim of Pasco, and incumbents G. Todd Vanek of Colfax and Michael Echanove of Palouse fended off challengers with strong leads in mayoral races.

In Whitman County returns, Dye received 2,502 votes while Lathim totaled 1,227. Those totals compare with August primary numbers where Dye received 3,276 votes and Lathim earned 839 in a three-way race.

An estimated 2,500 ballots remained to be counted as of Tuesday night.

In the Ninth District, Dye totaled of 9,820 votes to Lathim's 5,377.

Dye was appointed to the seat in May following Rep. Susan Fagan's resignation amid an investigation into her financial practices. Lathim is the former Franklin County Sheriff of 28 years.

Franklin County is the only county where Lathim took the majority, 1,915 votes to Dye's 1,568.

In the Colfax mayoral race, Vanek is running ahead of challenger Jeremiah “JW” Roberts with Vanek getting 327 votes and Roberts 248.

In Palouse, Mayor Echanove took 72 percent of the vote with 184 votes to opponent Connie Newman's 70.

Albion, however, has a new mayor if the preliminary election results hold up. Mayor Randy Crowner appears to have been unseated by challenger Carolyn Emerson-Farr. Emerson-Farr earned 40 votes, or 69 percent, while Crowner took 18 votes, or 31 percent.

Two Garfield council positions were contested on the ballot. Both incumbents appear to have been beaten by their opponents. In council position one, Neal Leon unseated Sharon Schnebly, taking 67 percent of the vote. David Ulrick unseated Tim Southern from council position three with 69 percent of the vote.

Port Commissioner Tom Kammerzell, who was unopposed in his bid for a second term as a port commissioner, received 3,053 votes to retain his position, but there were also 134 write-in votes for his position. Those write-ins were the most for any position on the ballot, contested or uncontested.

The contested race for Whitman County’s Hospital District 3 between Martin Marler and Sandra Brabb was not included in the count Tuesday night, as those ballots had to be mailed out separately after the race was inadvertently left off the ballot. More than 4,300 ballots had to be mailed out. Those ballots are expected to be hand counted at 9 a.m. today, Thursday.

Election officials are scheduled to count again here Friday. The election will be certified Tuesday, Nov. 24.

The 4,359 ballots counted here Tuesday amounts to a 21 percent voter turnout.

For a breakdown of election results in contested races and regarding initiatives and advisory results, see page 4A. Full election results, including uncontested races, can be found at whitmancounty.org.