Bob Jensen apparently will face incumbent Hugh Haffner for the Clallam County Public Utility District No. 1 Commission District 2 seat in the Nov. 4 general election.
Haffner secured his place in the general election with 1,297 votes, or about 52 percent.
Jensen received 843 votes, or about 34 percent.
Tom La Rosa received 369 votes, or about 15 percent.
The count isn’t complete.
The totals from Tuesday reflect the 12,128 ballots that been received through Thursday, said Patty Rosand, Clallam County Auditor.
Rosand said a high number of write-in votes delayed the counting.
The next tally will be made on Thursday and will include 2,756 ballots the county received on Friday and Monday, Rosand said.
At least 7,000 ballots still need to be tallied.
Haffner said he was pleased to have a majority in the tallies so far.
“It shows that people in the district continue to support me as commissioner,” he said.
Jensen said he wasn’t sure what to expect, but is looking forward to the general election.
“I plan to revise the entire situation, and see what it is going to take to win,” he said.
La Rosa couldn’t be reached for comment on Tuesday.
The election results will be certified on Sept. 3.
District customers countywide will be able to vote for either candidate in the general election.
Haffner has sat on the commission for 14 years and has emphasized his experience during the campaign.
“The theme was experience counts, and I think that’s the message I got from the voters,” he said.
Jensen, who is a partner in Angeles Communications and Capacity Precisioning, also emphasized his experience with utilities.
“Everything you do down there goes across my network,” he said.
“We’ve a lot of reliability issues we have to maintain from government works all the way down to individual businesses.”
Both candidates advocate using local sources for renewable energy.
Haffner has said the district needs to be prepared for unreliable forms of green power.
During the campaign he has proposed using gas from heated coal to make up for the slack in supply from solar and wind energy.
Jensen has also urged conservation and proposed implementing a monitoring system on the utility’s infrastructure to prevent outages.
The position is for six years.
The three members on the commission receive $1,400 a month with per diem and travel expenses.
