PORT ANGELES — It’s official — Robin Poole will face longtime incumbent Mike Doherty in the Nov. 2 general election for District 3 (West End) Clallam County commissioner.
In the second round of ballot counting late Friday afternoon, Poole, a UPS driver from Beaver, held on to his Tuesday night second-place primary election win over fellow Republican Bill Peach.
With the exception of judicial races, the top-two vote getters in the primary, regardless of party affiliation, advance to the general election.
The 8,279 last-minute ballots that arrived after Monday — which were not included in the Tuesday’s Election Day tally — did not reverse any of the races from the results recorded Tuesday night.
Margins remained largely the same in all the races.
Poole finished with 1,519 votes — or 27.2 percent — of the 5,579 ballots cast in the race.
Peach had 1,408 votes — 25.2 percent — after the new vote count on Friday.
Peach, the executive director of the Quileute tribe, gained a little ground since the first vote count on Tuesday night — but he couldn’t overcome the 3.2-percent lead that Poole built on election night.
Doherty, a Port Angeles Democrat who is running for a fourth four-year term as one of the three county commissioners, garnered 2,652 votes (47.5 percent) among his constituents.
Only District 3 voters cast ballots for commissioner in the primary election.
Voters countywide will cast ballots in the Nov. 2 general election.
Poole said he will defend the property rights of West End constituents, with whom he said Doherty is “out of touch.”
Turnout in the all-mail primary election in Clallam County was 54 percent.
Of the 45,796 ballots mailed to registered voters, 24,762 were returned.
After Friday’s count:
• Rick Porter, the incumbent Clallam County District Court 1 judge, leapfrogged the general election by getting 11,479 — or 57.3 percent — of the vote.
Judges head straight to the bench with 50 percent plus one vote in the primary.
Tim Davis, Porter’s nearest challenger, had 26 percent of the 20,040 ballots cast from a district that stretches from the eastern border of Clallam County line to west of Lake Crescent.
• The North Olympic Library System levy lid lift was approved with 59.1-percent support among 24,101 voters.
• Incumbent Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly finished the primary with 52.5-percent support in a county-wide race.
Kelly will face Sequim attorney Larry Freedman, who had 27.7 percent of the primary vote in the general election.
• Sheila Roark Miller and incumbent John Miller rolled on to the general election in the race for Clallam County Department of Community Development director.
Roark Miller (30.7 percent) and Miller (29.3 percent), who are not related, were separated in the primary by 292 votes.
Their closest challenger in the five-member field was Alan Barnard, a Port Angeles real estate agent, who garnered 22 percent of the vote.
• Steve Tharinger and Jim McEntire will take their razor-tight primary battle for Position 2, 24th District state representative, to the general election.
The second wave of ballot counting Thursday brought McEntire within 124 votes of Tharinger, who led by 420 votes on Tuesday.
Tharinger, one of the three Clallam County commissioners, garnered 15,868 votes (37.7 percent).
McEntire, a Republican and one of three Port of Port Angeles commissioners, had 15,744 votes (37.4 percent) out of 42,058 who cast a ballot in a four-man primary contest for Position 2.
Both men live in the Sequim area.
• Democrat Kevin Van De Wege maintained a big lead in the three-man race for Position 1 24th District state representative.
The Sequim firefighter and paramedic had 54.5 percent of the district-wide primary vote.
Van De Wege’s nearest challenger, Republican Dan Gase, a Port Angeles real estate agent, had 27.3 percent.
The two will face off in the general election.
The 24th Legislative District covers Clallam and Jefferson counties and the northern portion of Grays Harbor County.
Results of the all-mail primary will be certified on Sept. 1.
“There will be a few signature corrections and a few stragglers that come in between now and certification,” Clallam County Auditor Patty Rosand said.
Full election results as of Friday are at http://wei.secstate.wa.gov/clallam/Elections/Pages/ElectionResults.aspx
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
