Perez maintains lead over Kent for 3rd District seat

As more ballots were counted, Washington’s 3rd Congressional District race remains tense as Marie Gluesenkamp Perez continues to hold a lead over Joe Kent, but the pressure is far from over with nearly 89,000 ballots yet to be counted across the district.

Wednesday afternoon’s round of updates show Perez, D-Stevenson, with 114,675 votes, or 52.07 percent of the total, and Kent, R-Yacolt, following with 104,402 votes, or  47.38 percent of the 220,362 votes tallied, according to the Washington Secretary of State’s office.

Write-in ballots cast throughout the district totaled 1,285, accounting for 0.58 percent of the total.

Elections officials in all but one of the remaining 3rd Congressional District counties reported 88,886 ballots left to count, with an undetermined total for the small piece of Thurston County that is part of the district.

In Clark County, Perez now has 78,377 votes, or 58.21 percent of the total, and Kent has 56,271 votes, or 41.79 percent of the 134,648 votes tallied. Another 70,000 ballots remain to be processed in the county. As of Wednesday, Clark County reported a 41.92 percent voter turnout — a decent jump from Tuesday’s 36.37 percent turnout.

Perez was the top vote-getter in Clark and Pacific counties, whereas Kent was the favored candidate in Cowlitz, Lewis, Skamania, Thurston and Wahkiakum counties.

There is still no guarantee of who will secure Southwest Washington’s congressional seat.

The next round of ballot tallies from Lewis, Skamania and Wahkiakum counties is expected to be released close to 5 p.m. Thursday. Clark and Cowlitz counties, as well as the 3rd District’s portion of Thurston County, will post an update around 6 p.m. Pacific County, which has 186 remaining votes left to process, will provide its tally at 4 p.m. Nov. 14.

Election results will be certified on Nov. 29.

Legislative races

Updated results Wednesday showed little change in the 17th Legislative District Position 2 race and the 49th Legislative District Position 1 and Position 2 races, which all fall in favor of the incumbents.

In the 17th District Position 1 race, Republican Kevin Waters of Stevenson continues to hold a lead over Democrat Terri Niles of Vancouver, with 51.51 percent of the vote compared to her 48.36 percent, with 48,043 votes tallied to date between Clark and Skamania counties.

The winner will succeed Republican state Rep. Vicki Kraft, a two-term incumbent who vied to represent the 3rd Congressional District in the August primary.

Both seats in the 18th Legislative District are open, after five-term Republican Rep. Brandon Vick and two-term Republican Larry Hoff decided to not seek reelection.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Democrat John Zingale is leading the race to fill Vick’s Position 1 seat with 50.13 percent of the vote, while Republican Stephanie McClintock is close behind with 49.87 percent of 42,387 votes cast.

In the fight for Hoff’s Position 2 seat, Republican Greg Cheney is ahead with 52.22 percent of the vote as Democrat Duncan Camacho trails with 47.78 percent out of 42,483 votes cast.

The 20th Legislative Position 1 and 2 incumbents, Republican Peter Abbarno and Republican Ed Orcutt, ran unopposed.

Clark County Council

Wednesday’s updated election totals showed little changes from preliminary results on election night for the three Clark County Council nonpartisan races on the ballot with Glen Yung, Michelle Belkot and Sue Marshall holding onto their leads.

Yung’s lead in the District 1 race narrowed slightly with 11,510 votes, or 59.08 percent of votes cast. His challenger, community activist Hector Hinojosa, received 7,973 votes, or 40.92 percent.

Vancouver’s Belkot saw her lead for the District 2 seat widen slightly with 13,098 votes or 53.68 percent of votes cast. Belkot faced off against fellow Vancouver resident Chartisha Roberts, who received 11,303 votes or 46.32 percent of votes cast.

Despite a late surge of ballots, Ridgefield’s Sue Marshall continues to lead former state legislator Don Benton for the District 5 seat. Marshall’s lead dropped slightly with 16,669 votes, or 55.86 percent of votes cast. Benton has 13,172 votes or 44.14 percent.

Charter amendments

Voters were split on the six charter amendments placed on the ballot by the now-disbanded charter review commission, with three passing and three rejected.

The amendments to change the county’s process for appointing a county manager and to fill vacancies of county elected offices passed easily, each with around 65 percent of voters in favor. An amendment to add a preamble to the county charter remains close with 50.40 percent of voters in favor and 49.60 percent against.

Nearly 60 percent of voters rejected amendments for ranked choice voting, changing the county’s initiative process and the creation of a diversity and inclusion officer.

County offices

Greg Kimsey will continue to serve as county auditor, a position he’s held for nearly 24 years, after easily defeating challenger Brett Simpson. Kimsey received 86,956 votes so far, or 70.95 percent of votes cast. Simpson received 35,605 votes or 29.05 percent.

The only other county office to draw challengers this election was the race for county sheriff. John Horch held on to his lead over challenger Rey Reynolds. Horch received 74,565 votes, or 58.77 percent of votes cast, to Reynolds’ 52,304 votes or 41.23 percent.