The August election is in the books in Spokane County. The county canvassing board certified the results Tuesday morning.
Nearly 96,000 Spokane County residents cast ballots out of 325,000 that were eligible. That’s a turnout of 29.5%, roughly the midpoint of the last five odd-year primary elections in Spokane. The turnout in the city of Spokane was higher, nearly 36.5%.
The canvassing statistics show about 1,500 ballots were disqualified. Six out of 10 came in late. In three out of 10 cases, the signature on the ballot didn’t match the signature on file for the voter. And for one in 10, the voter didn’t sign the ballot at all.
County Auditor Vicky Dalton says the percentage of rejected ballots is similar to past elections. She suggests that people who want to vote in November act now to ensure they’ll be eligible. She says people who move should update their addresses as soon as they can to make sure the correct one is on file.
Though there were a few close races, Dalton notes there are no recounts needed to decide second place finishes, who will move on to the general election and whose campaign is finished.
We now have the official pairings for Spokane city offices for November. Voters will either re-elect Mayor Nadine Woodward to a second term or give four years to former Democratic state Senate Majority Leader and Commerce Department Secretary Lisa Brown. Brown won the primary by 11%.
Voters will elect a new city council president. Either Councilwoman Betsy Wilkerson or businesswoman Kim Plese will replace Lori Kinnear. Wilkerson won the August election by 13%.
In the South city council district, Paul Dillon will square off against Katey Randall Treloar. Both are newcomers to city council races. The winner will take the seat that’s now open, but which will be filled by appointment later this month. Dillon won the primary by more than nine points.
In the Northwest district, Kitty Klitzke came out ahead in a six-candidate race. She’ll face Earl Moore in November. The winner will replace Karen Stratton on the council. Klitzke won the August election by nearly 13%.
In the Northeast, Councilman Michael Cathcart seeks a second term against newcomer Lindsey Shaw. They didn’t have a primary race because they were the only two candidates.
Even though some of the people running may be members of political parties, all are running as nonpartisan candidates, as required by city charter.
City of Spokane Valley candidates also run non-partisan races. In District 2, the only race that had a primary, Jessica Yaeger will run against Rachel Briscoe for the right to replace Brandi Peetz. Yaeger had a two-to-one advantage in the primary. In District 3, Councilman Arne Woodard will seek re-election against Al Merkel. In District 6, Tim Hattenburg has a re-election challenge from former Republican state Representative and Spokane County Treasurer Rob Chase.
Click here to see the results from the August primary election for Spokane County. Click here to see the primary election results from other races in Washington.
In eastern Washington, the voter turnouts ranged from 19% in Yakima County to 36% in Okanogan and Benton counties.
