PORT ANGELES — Despite 6,268 new ballots in hand — and more coming in the mail — Clallam County Auditor Patty Rosand expects the results of Tuesday’s primary election to stand.
The rest of the ballots for the all-mail primary will be tallied on Friday, and the election will be certified on Sept. 1.
“They are pretty much all over,” Rosand said of the primary races.
“Historically, unless something happens, they [the results] don’t tend to change by more than a point or two.”
The 16,459 ballots collected through Monday were included in the first round of results.
The Clallam County Auditor’s Office received another 3,690 ballots on Tuesday and 2,578 more on Wednesday, which pushed the total turnout to 22,727, or 49.6 percent, of the 45,796 ballots mailed.
“Tomorrow should be the last day for a large number of returned ballots,” said Rosand, who had projected a 50 percent voter turnout, in a Wednesday e-mail.
Unlike the top-two primary for other races — which narrows the general election field to the top two vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation — judges can bypass the general election with 50 percent plus one vote in the primary.
Incumbent Clallam County District Court 1 Judge Rick Porter, 51, of Port Angeles, had 56.8 percent of the vote — 7,694 votes — after Tuesday’s balloting.
The nearest challenger, Tim Davis, 59-year-old assistant attorney general based in Port Angeles, had 25.9 percent, or 3,499 votes.
Port Angeles attorney Pam Lindquist, 42, trailed with 2,340 votes, or 17.3 percent.
Rosand said Porter will likely finish well-above the 50-percent threshold after Friday’s count.
By way of percentage points, the closest result in the primary was the race between Sheila Roark Miller of Carlsborg and incumbent John Miller of Port Angeles for director of the Department of Community Development.
Both appear headed for the November general election ballot.
Roark Miller, 51 — a county code compliance officer — is leading John Miller, 61, with 4,243 to 4,071 votes — 1.3 percentage points — in the five-way race. The two Millers are not related.
Other than bragging rights from winning the primary, and perhaps a boost of momentum going into the Nov. 2 general election, a change at the top won’t affect the immediate futures of either candidate.
The third-place challenger for DCD director is Port Angeles real estate broker and firm owner Alan Barnard, 65, whose 2,828 votes puts him out of second place by a 9.2-percent margin.
Timothy Woolett, 54, of Port Angeles, had 1,358 votes, or 10.1 percent, while Sean Ryan, 48, of Port Angeles, had 1,061 votes or 7.82 percent.
Meanwhile, incumbent Clallam County Commissioner Mike Doherty has advanced to the general election in his bid for a fourth term in the District 3 seat.
Challengers Robin Poole, 61, and Bill Peach, 54, are separated by only 116 votes in the contest to see who will face off with Doherty, 67, who lives in west Port Angeles.
Nearly half of the 3,691 voters in District 3 gave Doherty their support. Poole, a UPS driver who lives in Beaver, had 26.7 percent of the vote and Peach, the executive director of the Quileute tribe who lives in Forks, had 23.5 percent.
Rosand said it is unlikely that the late returns will sway the commissioner’s race for second place.
“It could get a little bit closer, but unless something happened on the West End, I doubt it,” Rosand said.
“We’ll have to just wait and see.”
Incumbent Deb Kelly, 57, and Sequim attorney Larry Freedman, 72, appear headed for a November contest after Kelly took 51.69 percent — 7,852 votes — and Freedman had 28.35 percent, or 4,306 votes.
Lauren Ericksen, 54, a Port Angeles attorney, had 19.96 percent, or 3,032 votes.
