Ballot tally at 25 percent: Hart, McMorris Rodgers post early election leads

First ballot count for Whitman County Tuesday night turned up a strong lead for John Hart in the race for district judge and a seven percent lead for Cathy McMorris Rodgers in the high profile race for the fifth district congressional race.

The first ballot count at the elections office totaled out at 6,449 which amounts to just more than 25 percent of the ballots which were distributed for the election.

Total count of registered voters for the general election is 25,130.

The count was for ballots which arrived early at the elections office and were processed by the elections staff for the fir...