Election leaders mark gains in second round

Election officials count ballots last Thursday for the hospital district three race.

With another 3,667 ballots added Friday to the general election count, trends held true from election night. The ballot return moved to 8,026 with a possible 500 more left to count. Election turnout is now at 39 percent.

Appointed Ninth District Rep. Mary Dye of Pomeroy, who led opponent Richard Lathim of Pasco in the first count, extended her lead.

In Whitman County, 4,583 votes were cast for Dye compared to 2,181 for Lathim. In district returns, which include Adams, Asotin, Garfield, Franklin and Whitman counties and parts of Spokane County, Dye took a commanding lead with 15,424 votes to Lathim’s 8,927.

This fall’s election will be for a one-year special term to fill out the two-year term of Susan Fagan.

Mayoral races around the county appeared to be finalized.

In Colfax, Mayor G. Todd Vanek earned a second term with 57 percent of the vote. His 544 votes compared to challenger Jeremiah “JW” Roberts’ 407 votes, or 43 percent. The close race between Vanek and Roberts saw a total of 980 votes, with four write-ins, one over vote and 24 under votes. Over votes occur when both candidates have been marked on the ballot, and under votes occur when no candidate has been marked.

Palouse’s mayoral race was not as close. Mayor Michael Echanove secured his fourth term with 267 votes of 403 cast. His 67 percent compared with opponent Connie Newman who earned 131 votes or 33 percent. Their race only saw two write-ins and three under votes.

Albion’s mayor was unseated by challenger Carolyn Emerson-Farr, who took 76 votes to incumbent Randy Crowner’s 41. Crowner has been the mayor in Albion since 2004 and had served as a town councilman from 1984-1990. Emerson-Farr has been serving as a councilwoman for six years.

The hospital district three race, which covers Colfax, Endicott, LaCrosse and St. John, between Martin Marler and Sandra Brabb, were hand counted Thursday. The hand count was necessary because the race was inadvertently left off the ballot and had to be mailed out to voters in those areas as a supplemental ballot. The Thursday count placed Marler ahead of Brabb, with 1,040 votes to 527, to retain to his position.

Terry Cochran was re-elected as fire district 11 commissioner. The district covers Albion, Colfax and Steptoe. Cochran received 227 votes to challenger Ron Hinnenkamp’s 147 to command 60 percent of the vote.

In the school districts, several contested races took shape. Elected were Brenda Boyd-Brown in Palouse, Clay Gehring in Rosalia and Shantyl McGuire, Janet Leifer and Alan Blumenshein in St. John.

Statewide, several initiatives and bills were on the ballot. On a county level, three of those bills failed. Engrossed Substitute House Bill 1449, which would have imposed oil spill response and administration taxes costing $17 million, was repealed in the county with a 54 percent vote. That bill, however, was maintained on a statewide level with 51 percent of the vote.

The other two bills – Second Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5987 and Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 6138 – were both repealed on a county and statewide level. Bill 5987 would have imposed additional taxes on motor vehicles and special fuels and cost an estimated $3.7 billion. Bill 6138, which would have cost $1.44 billion, sought to increase business and occupation tax revenues.

All other initiatives and bills passed on a county level and state level.

The election is expected to be certified here Nov. 24 by 12 p.m. The elections office estimates another 500 ballots are left to be counted.

A breakout of updated returns of all the contested races, initiatives and bills can be found on page 4A. Full results, which include uncontested races, are available online on http://www.whitmancounty.org.