Thurston primary races firm up, upset appears to be in the works after Friday’s vote tallies
Some Port of Olympia and North Thurston School Board election results became clearer after Friday’s ballot count, while an upset appears to be in the works in the District 5 county commission race.
Although the Thurston County primary won’t be certified until Aug. 15, and the next ballot count is not until Aug. 9, county Auditor data shows there were no ballots left to count after Friday’s tally.
Based on Friday’s results, District 5 County Commission candidate Michael Steadman, who has run for county commission before and currently serves on Lacey City Council, will not advance out of the primary.
District 5 candidate Emily Clouse leads that race with 4,918 votes, followed by Terry Ballard at 2,454, Steadman at 2,005 and Sarah Morris at 1,528, according to Friday’s vote count.
The top two candidates advance to the general election, which would pit Clouse versus Ballard.
Elsewhere, incumbent Olympia School Board candidate Talauna Reed has widened her lead over Andrew Flojo to 104 votes in the District 1 race. She has 26.9% of the votes, while he has 26.3%. If that holds, she will advance to the November general to face fellow incumbent Maria Flores, the top vote-getter, who received 46.6% of the vote.
In Tuesday’s initial tallies, Reed was trailing Flojo. Reed now holds the District 2 seat, but has moved so is now running in District 1.
Other races that were initially close after Tuesday night’s first ballot count have a widened a bit.
In the District 4 port race, Rose Chiu Gundersen continues to lead the group with 3,779 votes, while it remains close between Maggie Sanders, Joanna Manson and Bill Moomau. But it’s not as close as it was on Tuesday.
Sanders and Manson were separated by 151 votes on Tuesday, but after Friday’s tally Sanders has doubled her lead by 328 votes — 2,817 to Manson’s 2,489.
The Olympian reached out to Sanders Tuesday night. She replied Friday.
“I am confident in Thurston County’s blue wave of support of my candidacy and will work diligently to ensure that their voice is heard and bring true authenticity to the Port of Olympia,” Sanders said in an email.
North Thurston Public Schools board candidates Esperanza A. Badillo-Diiorio and Tiana Kleinhoff were separated by 6 votes on Tuesday. Now, Badillo-Diiorio leads with 6,125 votes to Kleinhoff’s 5,965 votes.
Stephanie Scott leads the way with 7,205 votes. However, Scott said Tuesday that if Badillo-Diiorio advances, she will support her for the North Thurston seat once held by Graeme Sackrison.
Voter turnout for the county primary currently stands at 30.73 percent. Auditor Mary Hall predicted turnout would be about 30 percent.
Complete results are available on the county’s elections website.
