PORT ANGELES — Brendan Meyer extended on Thursday a narrow lead on former Port Angeles resident Tara Martin Lopez in a battle for second place — and a spot on the general election ballot — in the race for City Council Position 7.
No primary result flipped when the Clallam County Auditor’s Office tabulated primary ballots for the third time in as many days.
Martha Cunningham won the largest number of votes in Tuesday’s primary election. She has a place on the Nov. 5 general election ballot and Meyer appears to have the other spot on the ballot in the race for the City Council seat being vacated by former Port Angeles mayor and three-term council member Cherie Kidd.
Cunningham had 1,077 votes, Meyer had 802 votes and Lopez had 776 votes after Thursday’s count.
Lopez dropped out of the race to pursue a job opportunity in New Mexico last month after her name was placed on the primary ballot.
The top-two vote-getters in the primary will advance to the Nov. 5 general election, regardless of whether they are campaigning.
Meyer extended his lead in the battle for second place from six votes Wednesday to 26 votes Thursday.
Another count is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. today.
Clallam County Auditor Shoona Riggs said there were still about 1,600 late-arriving ballots left to count.
Under state law, a machine recount is required if two candidates are separated by less than one-half of 1 percent of the total number votes cast for those candidates, Riggs said.
An automatic hand recount is required if two candidates are separated by less than one-quarter of 1 percent of their votes.
After Thursday’s tally, Meyer and Lopez were separated by 1.65 percent of the 1,578 votes cast in their head-to-head matchup, meaning no recount would be necessary if the election ended Thursday.
Here is where the other Clallam County races stood after Thursday’s tabulation.
• Charlie McCaughan and Doc Robinson are headed for a showdown in the race for Port Angeles City Council Position 5.
McCaughan had 1,377 votes, Robinson had 739 votes and Artur Wojnowski had 569 votes.
• Mike Gilstrap and Danny Smith will vie for Forks City Council Position 5.
Gilstrap had 150 votes, Smith had 108 votes and Christina Kohout had 33 votes.
• Ann Marie Henninger and Nate Adkisson were leading Warren Pierce in a race for the Sequim area Olympic Medical Center commissioner seat.
Henninger had 7,543 votes, Adkisson had 2,955 votes and Pierce had 2,249 votes.
• Steve Hopf and Keith Cortner will be on the general election ballot in the race for Clallam County Fire District No. 2 commissioner.
Hopf had 900 votes, Cortner had 369 votes and Richard Ruud had 199 votes.
• In the beauty race for the Sequim-area District 1 Clallam County commission seat, Mark Ozias, a Democrat, was leading Republican challenger Brandon Janisse 4,705 votes to 2,982 votes.
Ozias and Janisse each advanced to the general election.
Partisan races must be included on primary ballots even if only two candidates have filed.
The primary results mean Ozias will be listed first on the Nov. 5 ballot.
Countywide voter turnout was 27.4 percent as of Thursday’s count. The Auditor’s Office had received 13,984 of the 50,956 ballots mailed to registered voters.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.