EVERETT — The November election slate became a little clearer as another batch of votes dropped across Snohomish County late Wednesday.
On Wednesday, the county elections office had about 136,000 ballots, county Auditor Garth Fell said, pegging turnout for the primary at over 26%.
Trailing candidates hoping for a rush of votes to tip the scales their way were left disappointed by Wednesday’s batch of about 14,000.
In the Edmonds mayoral race, challenger Mike Rosen and incumbent Mike Nelson remained neck-and-neck, with Nelson drawing inches closer to Rosen. Just 103 votes, of over 10,000, separated them, while the two other challengers trailed.
In the closely-watched county auditor race, Fell, the incumbent, and Democrat Cindy Gobel were poised for a rematch of their race four years ago, as voters dismissed election denier Robert Sutherland’s bid to return to public office. Wednesday’s votes trended in Sutherland’s direction ever so slightly, but he continued to trail Gobel by over 6,000 votes, of nearly 107,000 counted through Wednesday.
For the county’s top post, Executive Dave Somers continued to far outpace his opponents, with over 52%, putting him in a solid position for a third and final term. And County Council member Megan Dunn, a Democrat, will face Republican Georgia Fisher in November, as Kristina Mitchell remained far behind in Wednesday’s vote count.
The lone Snohomish County Superior Court judge race on the primary ballot also saw little change Wednesday, with incumbent Patrick Moriarty at 41.8%, Mary Anderson at 34.2% and Jody Cloutier bringing up the rear with 23.8%.
The Everett City Council races appeared nearly set in stone, with former council member Scott Bader and Demi Chatters set to face off in District 6 and incumbent Judy Tuohy and Judith Martinez in District 7. Both seats are at-large positions, so they represent the whole city.
With just 144 votes separating the three candidates — and two of them tied exactly — the race for a seat on the Snohomish school board was the tightest in the county Tuesday. Monica Weber edged ahead of incumbent Sarah Adams — by nine votes. But teacher Sherri Larkin lengthened her narrow lead to over 200 votes.
The next results will post Thursday afternoon.
After Wednesday, there were about 25,000 votes left to be counted, Fell said. He expected the bulk of the remaining vote count to be completed Thursday. But ballots will continue to trickle in from voters residing overseas and serving in the military.
Jake Goldstein-Street: 425-339-3439; jake.goldstein-street@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @GoldsteinStreet.
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