PORT ANGELES — Mark Nichols widened his lead in the Clallam County prosecuting attorney race while Bill Peach maintained his lead in the county commission contest after a third count of general election ballots on Friday.
No election outcomes were changed after the 3,539 ballots that arrived Wednesday were counted.
The remainder — 3,264 ballots — will be counted Monday, with results expected to be reported by 4:30 p.m., said Shoona Riggs, county elections supervisor and auditor-elect.
“I would not expect the results to change much with the remaining ballots,” Auditor Patty Rosand said.
Nichols, 42, widened his four-point lead to a five-point lead in his race against fellow Republican Payne, 57, who was appointed to the post in January.
Nichols had 11,058 votes to Payne’s 10,025 votes — a gap of 1,033 votes, or 52.5 percent to 47.5 percent — after today’s count.
Nichols is the county’s land-use hearings examiner and the former chief deputy prosecuting attorney.
Payne was working as an assistant state attorney general before he was appointed the top county prosecutor.
Peach, 59, of Forks, a Republican, maintained a 51.3 to 48.7 percent lead over Bruch, 54, a Port Angeles Democrat, in the contest to replace retiring county Commissioner Mike Doherty in District 3, which extends from west Port Angeles to the West End.
Peach had 12,289 votes to Bruch’s 11,678 votes — a 611-vote lead — after Wednesday’s ballots were tabulated Friday.
Peach is a retired forester and former executive director of the Quileute tribe.
Bruch is a senior planner for the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe and a Port Angeles City Council member.
With all ballots now on hand, both counted and uncounted, voter turnout is at 61.8 percent, with registered voters having returned 28,994 of 46,915 ballots issued.
“We are done with the bulk returns,” Riggs said. “Now we will only be receiving the stragglers through the mail, like out-of-state ballots, and military or overseas which take longer to get returned.”
A Clallam County Fire District No. 2 levy was passing with 2,145 yes votes to 1,341 no votes, a solid 61.5 percent approval.
Here are updated results for other Clallam County races/ballot issue:
■ County Fire District No. 2 levy was passing with 2,145 yes votes to 1,341 no votes, a solid 61.5 percent approval.
■ County auditor: Riggs, 12,124, or 59.1 percent; Kim Yacklin, 8,378, or 40.9 percent.
■ Community development director: Mary Ellen Winborn, 13,418, or 61.8 percent; Sheila Roark Miller, 8,297, or 38.2 percent.
■ District Court 1 judge: Rick Porter, 12,375, or 58.3 percent; Cathy Marshall, 8,837, or 41.7 percent.
Here are the top five Charter Review Commission candidates for each district, which also remained unchanged:
■ District 1 — Sue W. Forde, Ken Hays, Ronald Bell, Nola E. Judd and Ted Miller.
■ District 2 — Glenn Wiggins, Norma E. Turner, Maggie Roth, Steven D. Burke and Selinda Barkhuis.
■ District 3 — Howard “Mike” Doherty, Barbara Christensen, Connie Beauvais, Cheryl Williams and Rod Fleck.
The county canvassing board will certify the results of the general election on Nov. 25.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com
