PORT TOWNSEND – Zane Wyll and Pete Langley will square off for the Fire Protection No. 1 position 1 commissioner seat in the Nov. 6 general election.
Wyll, 65, of Port Townsend, led the three-person race in Tuesday’s primary election with 1,042 votes, or 43.08 percent of a total of 2,419 votes counted in the district.
Langley, 49, of Port Townsend, garnered 841 votes, or 34.77 percent.
Terry Heineman, 59, of Chimacum, received 519 votes, or 21.46 percent.
“Obviously I have some good support out there,” Wyll said.
“Thanks for the support, and we’ll just have to do it all over again.”
The results tallied only ballots cast on or before Tuesday, when 4,838 ballots were counted in the two Jefferson County primary races – the fire district race and a race for the Port of Port Townsend commission.
That represented 34.02 percent of the 14,223 ballots mailed out.
About 150 ballots were in hand but not counted, said Jefferson County Auditor Donna Eldridge.
That included those collected from the ballot drop box behind the county courthouse at 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Those ballots, plus ballots received in the coming days with a Tuesday or before postmark, will be counted on Friday.
Eldridge expects about 400 additional valid ballots to be received in the mail.
Additional ballots will be counted every three days if there are enough to count.
The election will be certified at 8:30 a.m. on Sept. 5.
Wyll said he will campaign aggressively for the Nov. 6 general election.
“I’m running on my record and my vision of the fire district,” Wyll said.
“We need to continue to support volunteers and career staff.”