A tax hike to support parks in Snohomish appeared to be failing on primary election night as the field of candidates was whittled down in local races across Snohomish County.

Candidates who were vying against three or more opponents to advance to Nov. 3 General Election ballot on Tuesday included those running for city council or school board in Everett, Lake Stevens Lynnwood, Edmonds and Mukilteo.

Primary election results were released Tuesday evening by the Snohomish County Auditor’s Office. By about 8 p.m., about 14 percent of the votes had been counted.

The majority of voters in Snohomish were against the creation of a metropolitan park taxing district in the city, initial results showed. The citywide measure appeared to be heading for defeat, with 67.9 percent of votes cast against creating the new tax.

Supporters sought the tax to maintain and improve Snohomish parks. Opponents questioned the need for a permanent taxing district and favored other ways of raising the money.

Morgan Davis, an staunch opponent of the parks district, was not immediately available for comment Tuesday evening. Ann Stanton, a retired Snohomish Project Manager and supporter of the taxing district, said she hopes the City Council will try to run another measure to pay for parks in the future.

Meanwhile, voters narrowed the field to two candidates to advance to the General Election in local city council and school board races.

Leading the race for Everett City Council Position 4 was Cassie Franklin, the CEO of the nonprofit Cocoon House, with 57.2 percent of the vote over incumbent councilman Ron Gipson with 33 percent, initial results show.

A third challenger, Vic Paul, was trailing with 8.4 percent.

Franklin has led Cocoon House, which provides housing and other services to homeless youth, since 2011. On the council, she said, she’d work to alleviate homelessness and poverty and increase public safety. She’s also has been involved in the city’s Community Streets Initiative and wants to see more of the task force’s recommendations enacted.

“That’s what’s important to folks in Everett and they’re showing it with their votes,” she said.

Gipson has served on the council for 20 years and has long advocated for blue-collar Everett. He has emphasized issues that affect the poor and those on fixed incomes, such as rising utility rates.

“The early numbers show we have an uphill battle,” Gipson said Tuesday evening. Gipson has since early 2014 been on paid administrative leave from his job at the Denney Juvenile Justice Center while he has been under investigation for sexual harassment.

Gipson blamed the investigation for the poor showing. “People are believing the false allegations, none of which are true,” he said.

Leading the race Everett City Council Position 5 was incumbent councilman Scott Bader with 56.1 percent of the vote and challenger Charlene Rawson with 29.2 percent.? Challenger Josh Petersen trailed 13.5 percent of the vote, initial results show.

Bader, currently serving as council president, won a special election to his seat in 2012 after councilman Drew Nielsen drowned in a rafting accident. ?If re-elected, he said he wants the city to continue the work of recovering from the economic downturn.

“We’ll keep nursing the city budget back to heath and trying to attract more employers with family wage jobs,” he said.

His priorities in a new term will be to promote job and business growth and garnering more support from Snohomish County to help fund programs to combat homelessness and social issues.?

Rawson is a longtime advocate for the Port Gardner neighborhood, and wants to see the city provide more support to neighborhoods and rebuilt block watch programs.

“I’m an advocate for neighborhoods to have a say in how their neighborhoods are administered,” she said.

Elsewhere in the county:

• For Lake Stevens City Council Position 5, Lake Stevens business owner Rauchel McDaniel was leading with 43.1 percent of the vote, followed by Michael Boe, a retired U.S. Air Force master sergeant who works at the Monroe prison, with 33.2 percent, initial returns show. Jeffrey Koon, owner of Bacari Homes in Lake Stevens, came in third with 21.1 percent.
• Leading the race for Lynnwood City Council Position 4 were 15-year incumbent Loren Simmonds with 44.4 percent of the vote, followed by Shirley Sutton, a community activist, with 37 percent, according to results Tuesday evening. Maria Ambalada came in third with 16.2 percent.
• For Mukilteo City Council Position 6, former councilman Richard Emery was the frontrunner with 58.4 percent of the vote, followed by Jon Boyce, a real estate broker, with 27 percent. Maxwell Chen, an Edmonds Community College student, was in third with 12 percent.
• In the Edmonds School Board race, Gary Noble, a 12-year incumbent, was ahead with 60.4 percent of the vote, followed by Mary Murphy, a volunteer and mother of two teenagers, with 24 percent. Mark Norton, who works in security for King County Metro, was trailing with 14.3 percent.

Updated ballot counts are scheduled to be released by the county auditor after 5 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday. The initial batch tallied ballots the auditor had received by Tuesday morning.

Amy Nile: 425-339-3192; anile@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @AmyNileReports

Reporters Chris Winters, Kari Bray, Rikki King, Sharon Salyer and Noah Haglund contributed