The leaders in Tuesday’s primary election maintained their leads after the count of late ballots Wednesday.
In the 40th Legislative District, County Councilman Kevin Ranker appeared headed to the general election and a chance of being the first San Juan Island resident in the state Senate in about 100 years.
After Wednesday’s count, the San Juan County Elections Department reported it had 1,000 ballots left to count. Those ballots, and any received in the mail today, are expected to be counted by 5:30 p.m. today.
The latest 40th District Senate results show former state representative Steve Van Luven, Republican of Samish Island, leading with 8,536 votes. Ranker, a Democrat, is second with 6,729. Ken Henderson, a Democrat and former Whatcom County Council member, is third with 3,964.
For San Juan County Superior Court judge, John O. Linde is the clear winner. As of Wednesday night, he was leading Prosecuting Attorney Randall K. Gaylord 3,692 to 2,193. Linde was appointed to the position by Gov. Christine Gregoire last year when it was created by the Legislature. San Juan County formerly shared judges with Island County.
There will be two new faces on the San Juan County Council come January. In District 1, San Juan South, county planning commissioner Lovel Pratt is leading with 481 votes and former freeholder Gordy Petersen has 366 votes; County Auditor Milene Henley believes they will advance to the general election.
“We’ve already had a 65 percent voter turnout in that race. I don’t see any reason for the results to change” because of remaining ballots, she said.
San Juan Valley farmer Lisa Guard is third with 327 votes. Daniel Miller Jr., a former candidate for state House and county commission, has 32 votes.
The winner of the District 1 race will succeed Ranker, who did not seek reelection so he could run for Senate.
For County Council District 4, Orcas West, former freeholder Richard Fralick is the clear leader, with 399 votes. Former freeholder Mindy Kayl has 247 votes. Henley expects Fralick and Kayl will advance to the general election.
Henley doesn’t believe there are enough remaining ballots to make a difference for former county commissioner Bruce Orchid, who finished third with 207; or County Councilman Alan Lichter, who is fourth with 194 votes.
