PORT ANGELES — The Clallam County Auditor’s Office hopes to count about 8,700 more general election ballots Friday, adding to the 13,761 tallied Tuesday, Clallam County Auditor Shoona Riggs said Wednesday.
But the ballots tallied Friday are unlikely to change any winners and losers, she said.
Those in the losing column have a tough hill to climb, Riggs said.
“With the ballots we have coming in, they are from all over the county, and they are going to continue to show up the way they are showing up already,” Riggs said.
“It would take a lot to change any of these [results] very much.”
The auditor’s office received 600 more mail-in ballots Wednesday, and about 1,800 are left over from Tuesday, both groups of which still need to have signatures checked, Riggs said.
Another 2,293 ballots that had signatures checked on Wednesday and about 4,000 signature-checked ballots left over from Tuesday increases the total to about 8,700 ballots that could be counted Friday.
Riggs said that so many ballots were left to fully process that all may not be counted then.
The signature-checked ballots up the turnout to 20,070, or 42.27 percent of 47,871 ballots mailed to voters Oct. 14.
“What we get in the mail [today] will be minimal,” Riggs said.
Why do voters and candidates have to wait until Friday afternoon for more electoral certainty?
The process includes checking signatures on each ballot and resolving inconsistencies on “hundreds” of ballots, Riggs said.
Anomalies include voters changing a choice or using pencils instead of pens.
In addition, every contest must be examined on every ballot, and every ballot must be scanned.
“It’s taking us hours to go through all that stuff,” she said.
“It’s not a matter of, just because you checked the signatures, they are ready to go.”
Riggs said election workers on Tuesday only counted ballots received through Monday.
On Tuesday, they partially processed 3,998 ballots they received Tuesday, continuing that process Wednesday.
“Signatures were checked, but we’re still opening and scanning them,” she said.
Riggs added that as ballots are received, they are not segregated into, for example, Port Angeles City Council races and the Sequim School District’s $49.3 million school bond election.
As of Tuesday’s count, the Sequim School District bond was less than 5 percentage points shy of reaching the needed 60 percent supermajority to pass, with 57.23 percent, or 4,291 votes, to 42.76 percent, or 3,205 votes.
Candidates in all 16 contested positions on the Clallam County general election had leading margins of more than 5 percent.’
They included races for Port Angeles, Sequim and Forks City Councils; Clallam County Park and Recreation District No. 1, also known as SARC; Port Angeles and Sequim School Boards, Clallam County Fire District No. 3, and countywide races for Port of Port Angeles and Clallam County commissioner.
Ozias confident
Political newcomer and Sequim Democrat Mark Ozias, 45, executive director of the Sequim Food Bank, said Wednesday he expects to defeat Republican incumbent Sequim-area District 1 County Commissioner Jim McEntire, 65, Port of Port Angeles commissioner after pulling ahead by almost 1,000 votes in Tuesday’s count from among more than 13,000 tallied.
As of Tuesday, Ozias was leading with 7,043 votes, or 53.69 percent, to McEntire’s 6,076 votes, or 46.31 percent.
“I’m really excited, and I do expect the results to hold,” Ozias said.
Ozias, who far outraised McEntire with $32,830 in campaign contributions compared to McEntire’s $23,836, said he made thank-you calls to several donors Tuesday night and was making more thank-you calls Wednesday while “taking the day off.”
Ozias said he will work out his departure from the food bank with the board of directors in the coming weeks.
“When I start as commissioner in January, it will be receiving my full attention,” Ozias said.
Hope for a surge
McEntire, who was pulling up campaign signs Wednesday in Port Angeles and Sequim, acknowledged that Election Night outcomes typically don’t change but held out hope for a surge in votes from Sequim and the West End.
“I’m just going to sit tight and wait for the Friday count and see where it goes from there,” he said.
The retired Coast Guard captain said he has not contemplated life after serving as a county commissioner.
“I probably won’t for a while,” McEntire said, adding he would “probably put a low probability” on running for public office again.
Port race
On Election Night, Connie Beauvais of Joyce, operator and manager of the Crescent Water Association, had 6,564 votes, or 57.97 percent, to Forks City Council member Michael Breidenbach’s 4,759 votes, or 42.03 percent, for the Port of Port Angeles West End District 3 position.
It’s being vacated by longtime port Commissioner John Calhoun.
“I’m going to hold the lead,” Beauvais predicted Wednesday, ticking off the 3,000 homes she visited and two pairs of shoes she wore out while doorbelling for votes.
Beauvais, 64, said if she does win, she will keep her day job but cut back on her hours.
On Wednesday she was taking water samples as part of her duties.
“I have somebody starting to take [campaign] signs down, but that’s it,” she said of her day.
“I’m just sitting back and waiting for the numbers to come in on Friday.”
Breidenbach, a retired West Coast senior manager for Rayonier Inc., said Wednesday he was not ready to concede the race to Beauvais.
“I would save that, if it happens, for Friday,” Breidenbach said.
“Anything is possible at this point.”
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.