PORT ANGELES — Clallam County voter turnout rose to 46.7 percent after Friday’s count of primary election ballots that left the outcomes of the races reported Tuesday unchanged.
The Clallam County Auditor’s Office received 4,408 new ballots on Wednesday and 1,414 new ballots on Thursday.
County Auditor Patty Rosand said 21,443 of the 45,879 active registered voters who received a ballot had returned one by Friday, for a voter turnout of 46.7 percent.
The next count is Monday. An estimated 25 ballots were left to count as of Friday.
In Jefferson County, voter turnout rose to 57.03 percent after a second count of primary election ballots on Friday, with 12,481 ballots returned out of 21,886 issued.
The top-two primary culled candidates down to the two who took the largest number of votes in each race.
After Friday’s count, incumbent Clallam County Commissioner Mike Chapman and Republican challenger Maggie Roth remained in a contest that will be decided in the Nov. 6 general election.
Chapman, a 48-year-old political independent from Port Angeles seeking a fourth term on the three-member Board of County Commissioners, won 2,582 votes — or 38.8 percent — of the 6,659 votes from District No. 2.
Roth, 58, received 1,769 — or 26.6 percent — of the votes in the central third of the county.
Roth served as operation manager for the Northwest Duty Free Store for 15 years before retirement.
Democrat Dale Holiday won 1,091 votes, or 16.4 percent, while fellow Democrat Patti Morris took 767 votes, or 11.5 percent and Sandra Long, an Independent, had 450 votes, or 6.8 percent.
Only voters in District No. 2 could vote in the commissioners’ race in the primary. Voters countywide will be eligible to vote for commissioner in the general election.
The newest count kept in place the contest between Clallam County District Court Judge Eric Rohrer, 54, and county Hearing Examiner Christopher Melly, 60, in the general election.
Rohrer had 6,432 — or 36.4 percent— of the 17,662 votes cast in the countywide primary. Melly’s 4,174 votes was good for 23.6 percent and a win over third-place finisher William Payne, a Sequim attorney who took 3,746 votes, or 21.2 percent.
Port Angeles attorney Curtis G. Johnson won 3,310 votes, or 18.7 percent.
A $4 million, 20-year bond to renovate Civic Field in Port Angeles fell short of the 60 percent supermajority it needed to pass.
The bond had 56.8 percent support as of Friday.
The Sequim public safety sales tax to fund construction of a new police station was passing by 60.2 percent on Friday.
A simple majority was required to pass the one-tenth of 1 percent sales tax on purchases within the city limit.
In the gubernatorial, race, Clallam County voters bucked a state tread by supporting Republican Rob McKenna with more votes than Democrat Jay Inslee.
Among the Clallam County electorate, McKenna edged Inslee 45.8 percent to 42.2 percent.
Jefferson County voters followed the state trend. They gave Inslee 58.08 percent of the vote to McKenna’s 34.16.
Voters statewide voters gave Inslee more votes by a 46.3 to 43.6 percent margin.
Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.