Joe Hawe is leading challenger Soeren Poulsen in the primary election race for Clallam County sheriff.
Facing his first strong competition since taking office 12 years ago, Hawe received 54.8 percent of the primary vote after the first round of vote counting Tuesday night.
Poulsen received 45.2 percent of the vote.
At the end of counting, Poulsen trailed Hawe by 1,242 votes.
Election officials reported 13,714 of 39,623 mail-in ballots issued had been counted Tuesday.
An additional 4,832 ballots received Monday and Tuesday will be counted Friday, along with any late-arriving ballots deposited in county dropboxes or postmarked by Tuesday.
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