PORT TOWNSEND — After the initial and second ballot counts, District 2 county commissioner candidates Heidi Eisenhour and Lorna Smith are headed for the general election in November.
The three-way primary between Democrats Eisenhour, Smith and Amanda Funaro for the county commissioner seat culled the candidates down to two.
The winner in the Nov. 3 election will replace Democrat David Sullivan, who chose not to run for reelection after serving four terms on the Board of County Commissioners.
After the second ballot count Wednesday, 9,606 of votes were cast out of the total 26,499 registered voters in Jefferson County and 2,724 are yet to be counted. Voter turnout is 48.88 percent. The next count will be by 4 p.m. today
The race was on only the ballot of voters in District 2, which includes Chimacum, Port Hadlock, Irondale, Marrowstone Island, Kala Point, Woodland Hills and Cape George. The race will appear on the county wide ballot for the November general election.
A total of 2,677 votes were cast in the county commissioner race, as of Wednesday.
Eisenhour, 49, chief operations officer of the Northwest Maritime Center, received the most votes of the three, totaling 1,204 votes (44.98 percent).
She was excited about the results.
“I was with a few members of my campaign team and we were thrilled,” Eisenhour said. “We’ve been working really hard on this campaign and I’m feeling really grateful to the community.
“I think it just proves to me that community counts. We’re excited to see what happens in future counts and planning for our general election campaign.”
Smith, 69, executive director of Western Wildlife Outreach, received 924 votes (34.52 percent).
“I’m well satisfied where things stand right now,” Smith said. “Our campaign went up against a native daughter of the area and we held up very well.
“So, we’re just looking forward to running a great campaign over the next several months and winning in November.”
Funaro, 42, chief operations officer of Goodman Sanitation, came in third after receiving 541 votes (20.21 percent). She was not immediately available on Wednesday.
The election will be certified on Aug. 18, which will officially declare who will be moving on to the Nov. 3 general election ballot.
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Jefferson County reporter Zach Jablonski can be reached by email at zjablonski@peninsuladailynews.com or by phone at 360-385-2335, ext. 5.