FORKS –– Incumbent Forks Mayor Bryon Monohon won a massive 81 percent of the vote over challenger Janet Hughes with 302 votes counted Tuesday.
Monohon outdrew Hughes 246-56 in the first count.
“I’m actually shocked. I had to look at it twice to see if I read the numbers right,” Monohon said.
Clallam County Auditor Patty Rosand expects more ballots from Forks to be inlcuded in the next count, which will be by 4:30 p.m. Friday.
The Clallam County Auditor’s Office counted 15,348 ballots, or 32.8 percent, of the 46,668 ballots mailed out Oct. 16 in the countywide race Tuesday, with about 5,000 on hand but uncounted and more expected later this week.
Auditor Patty Rosand expects voter turnout to exceed 50 percent by the time all ballots are in.
Forks has a strong mayor form of government in which the mayor is elected by the voters and serves as the city administrator.
Monohon, 50, said he was happy to be continuing to lead the city over the next four years.
“I’m going to take a day or two breather and then start digging into some long-range stuff,” Monohon said, adding he was “glad to put the burden” of a campaign behind him.
“The people had a choice. That was the important thing to have,” said Hughes, 57.
Hughes, who won 18.5 percent of the vote, said she still plans to remain active in civic affairs and possibly beyond.
“Might want to look for me for county commissioner,” Hughes said. “We’ll see what happens.”
The mayor doesn’t get paid in Forks.
The mayor proposes to the council an annual budget that in 2013 is $1.7 million and hires and supervises City Hall staff of 28 full-time-equivalent employees.
With Tuesday’s count including 302 of 1,473 ballots issued to Forks voters in Tuesday’s count, the race results are not likely to change in the next count, which will be done by 4:30 p.m. Friday.
Tuesday night’s count included 15,348 ballots countywide, good for 32.8 percent of the 46,665 general election ballots mailed to registered voters.
Auditor Patty Rosand said the county’s election staff had some 5,000 ballots on hand Tuesday that were not included in the initial count.
Three ballots were flagged for review by the county’s canvass board for signature mismatch issues.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Joe Smillie can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or at jsmillie@peninsuladailynews.com.
