It’s Richards, Johnson in November race for Clallam County commission

In today’s count of ballots, Johnson edged Gabe Rygaard by 192 votes in the top-two primary race.

Randy Johnson

Randy Johnson

PORT ANGELES — The November lineup for the open Clallam County commission seat will be Ron Richards and Randy Johnson.

In a third count of ballots today, Johnson, who filed with no party preference, edged Gabe Rygaard, a Republican, by 192 votes in the top-two primary race for a position on the Nov. 8 general election ballot.

Johnson, who filed with no party preference, moves on to face Richards, a Democrat, whose place on the ballot has been assured since the initial count last Tuesday.

Johnson solidified his candidacy by earning 25.7 percent of the primary vote after the Clallam County Auditor’s Office counted 3,044 late-arriving primary ballots Tuesday.

There will be no more counts until the all-mail election is certified next Tuesday.

Richards breezed through the four-person primary by winning 2,302 votes — or 37.8 percent — of the 6,093 ballots cast within central-county District 2.

Johnson finished with 1,564 votes.

Rygaard tallied 1,372 votes, or 22.5 percent of the district total.

Republican Maggie Roth collected 855 votes for a 14-percent share.

In the Washington primary, the two candidates who receive the most primary election votes advance to the general election, regardless of party affiliation.

The total voter turnout in Clallam County was 40.8 percent. Of the 49,026 registered voters in the county, 19,984 returned a ballot, according to the Auditor’s Office.

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