The man who said he was campaigning to win a judgeship in the primary election has done just that.
With 1,913 additional votes counted by the county, Brooke Taylor’s 53-percent position in the race for the new, third Clallam County Superior Court bench remained unchanged, placing him alone on the November’s ballot.
If his lead holds above 50 percent when the election is certified on Sept. 5, as is now expected, his will be the only name on the November ballot for the 11-month judgeship.
Taylor won the lead against three opponents for the new judgeship.
Friday’s updated tally of the votes cast in Tuesday’s election also show that Paul Sawyer will face Don Perry in the November general election for Port Angeles City Council Position No. 6.
Taylor could not be reached for comment, but spoke during his campaign about aggressively trying to beat the 50-percent mark in the primary.
“I’m aiming to win this in the primary . . that having been said, I’m also a realist, Taylor said in July.
“History would tell us that the person who wins this position is likely to be there as long as they choose.”
The Clallam County Auditor’s Office released updated vote tallies Friday.
Since Tuesday’s vote count, the division between Sawyer and Peter Ripley, candidates widened enough to no longer be eligible for an automatic recount.
Sawyer now has a 32-vote, .82-percentage point lead over Ripley.
Preliminary tallies on Tuesday, which was election night, showed Sawyer with a 14-vote, .4-percentage point lead over Ripley.
That was within the threshold for an automatic recount.
Under state law, races are eligible for a recount if the difference between a winning and losing candidate is less than half of a percent.
It is eligible for a hand recount if the difference is less than a quarter of a percent.
The auditor’s count on Friday also showed that 459 voters were eligible to vote in the primary contest, but did not.
