The results of Tuesday’s election held strong in key races Wednesday as the Clark County Elections Department tallied thousands more ballots.
With 70,125 votes now counted, Clark County chair candidate Marc Boldt, who ran with no party preference, gained a slightly larger edge over Mike Dalesandro, a Democrat, with 40.09 percent of the vote to Dalesandro’s 37.26 percent.
“It’s a very close race, but the outlook is good,” Boldt posted on Facebook.
State Rep. Liz Pike, R-Camas and a write-in candidate in the chair race, picked up several thousand more votes, but they weren’t enough for her to come close to challenging Dalesandro for second place. She had 21.96 percent of the vote Wednesday.
Dalesandro said that while “the math is not working in my favor,” he’s “still waiting until (Thursday) to make the final call.”
Pike could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
In the District 2 race for the Clark County council, which covers northwest Clark County, including the cities of Ridgefield and La Center, Republican Julie Olson extended her lead over Democrat Chuck Green with 52.41 percent of the vote to Green’s 47.13 percent.
But Green was not quite ready to concede defeat.
“I just want to wait and see what happens in the next couple days,” Green said.
And despite apparent optimism on Election Day, Lisa Ross conceded defeat Wednesday in her race for the Port of Vancouver commission’s District 2 seat. Her opponent, Eric LaBrant, far outpaced Ross with 56.12 percent of the vote to Ross’ 43.26 percent.
“Sadly, we did not prevail,” Ross posted on her Facebook page. “Thank you to everyone with the strength to stand with me and for the port.”
In the race for Vancouver City Council, Position 5, Ty Stober’s lead over Linda Glover grew slightly. On Tuesday, he was ahead by 226 votes; on Wednesday, he was ahead by 512 votes and had 50.82 percent of the vote to Glover’s 48.37 percent.
Glover could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
In other tight races, Dan Coursey strengthened his lead over Molly Coston for an open Washougal City Council seat. He now leads 949 votes to 884.
In Woodland, Karl Chapman beat Mayor Grover Laseke for a city council seat, and Matthew Jacobs beat appointed Councilor Mike Benjamin.
It remains too close to call as to whether Susan Humbyrd will serve a third term on the Woodland City Council. She leads former Councilor John “JJ” Burke, with 277 votes to his 259.
There are about 251,500 registered voters in Clark County, and turnout in Tuesday’s election was at 27.88 percent Wednesday. According to Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey’s projections early this week, about another 20,000 ballots remain to be counted in the coming days.
Columbian Staff Writer Brooks Johnson contributed to this report.
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