Like the mouse that roared, voters on Lopez Island quite likely swayed the outcome of Proposition 1 and Proposition 2 in Tuesday’s election.
Precincts results in the initial Nov. 6 election tally show voters countywide approved Prop. 1 by a margin of 912 votes, or 55.4 percent; votes to approve totaled 4,632, versus a total of 3,723 votes to reject.
On Lopez, however, the island’s two voting precincts approved Prop. 1 by a combined total of 909 votes, with 1,112 votes to “approve” versus 200 votes to “reject”, a margin of approval equaling 84 percent.
Under Prop. 1, San Juan County’s legislative body, the County Council, will revert back to three full-time elected officials elected by all voters of county, and bring an end to the existing 6-person council elected by voting districts of roughly equal size in population.
Voters on San Juan and Orcas islands essentially cancelled each other out on Prop. 1. San Juan voters, with 4,267 votes cast, approved the measure by a combined margin of 51 percent over nine separate voting precincts, while on Orcas, voters rejected Prop. 1 by a combined 53 percent, with a total of 2,466 votes cast in four separate precincts.
Meanwhile, Lopez voters also helped tip the scales on Prop. 2, though in numbers far surpassing their counterparts on Orcas and San Juan.
Initial precinct results indicate Prop. 2 passing by a margin of 54 percent countywide. With 8,877 ballots tabulated as of Tuesday, 4,547 voters approved Prop. 2 compared to 3,503 voters rejecting the measure. On Lopez, voters backed Prop. 2 by a margin of 84 percent, with 1,266 votes tallied and a differential of 860 votes in favor of the measure.
Under Prop. 2, the position of county administrator will be replaced by a county manager whose duties will be determined and directed by the County Council.
On San Juan, with a combined total of 4,114 votes tallied on Tuesday, approval of Prop. 2 maintained a slim lead of only 44 votes, a 50.5 percent margin. The measure had a 99-vote advantage of approval, 52 percent, on Orcas, with a combined total of 2,377 votes tallied over four voting precincts.
— Scott Rasmussen, Journal editor
