Mielke solidifies lead over Brokaw

Tom Mielke 84,084 votes

Pam Brokaw 83,878 votes

With almost every ballot counted, Tom Mielke has a solid 206-vote lead in the race to become Clark County’s newest commissioner.

Last Thursday, the Battle Ground-area Republican held a 190-vote lead over Democrat Pam Brokaw.

Elections supervisor Tim Likness predicted that about 200 ballots are yet to be counted, including some provisional ballots cast in King County by Clark County voters and a few that remain unsigned or with mismatched signatures.

A machine recount will be required if the final margin is less than about 840 votes, and a manual recount if it’s less than 150 votes.

Brokaw said Tuesday that she isn’t ready to concede.

“I think it’s a long shot, but I think we still have a shot,” she said. “We’re just holding our breath and waiting to see what the voters say.”

She said, though, that she’d rather have Mielke’s vote count at the moment.

Mielke couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.

The race will determine which party has the majority on the county’s three-member board of commissioners. The board controls development patterns outside the county’s cities and sets budgets for the sheriff’s office, jail, public health programs and other services.

Likness said he’s been e-mailing both political parties a list of the names and addresses on problem ballots.

He said the campaigns are “vigorously running around trying to get these people to sign.”

Elections workers must verify the signatures.

In the county’s second-closest race, Democratic state senate candidate David Carrier conceded to Republican Sen. Don Benton two weeks ago. Benton leads by 1,315 votes. That isn’t close enough to trigger a recount.

According to Tuesday’s total, Mielke leads Brokaw 84,084 to 83,878, with 211 write-in ballots, seven ballots cast for more than one candidate in the two-way race, and 15,876 people who didn’t vote for anyone.

Michael Andersen: 360-735-4508 or michael.andersen@columbian.com.