PORT TOWNSEND — Brinnon Fire District Commissioner Ken McEdwards has retained his seat, while Richard Quinnell is the apparent winner for the Gardiner Cemetery District commission — although that race could go to a recount.
The two races were the only contests that were too close to call after Thursday’s count of outstanding ballots from last week’s general election.
The margins were so close that Jefferson County Auditor Donna Eldridge said then that both seemed headed for mandatory machine recounts.
After 82 ballots were tallied Tuesday, both McEdwards and Quinnell were in the lead, with only the Gardiner race close enough that one outstanding ballot might change the need for a recount after the election is certified Nov. 24.
Brinnon resident McEdwards, 47 and a camp director at Camp Parsons Boy Scouts of America, now has 311 votes, or 50.98 percent, while Mike Eastman, 61, also a Brinnon resident and a retired member of the Boeing Fire Department, has 299 votes, or 49.02 percent.
In the Gardiner cemetery district race, Quinnell has 71 votes, or 51.08 percent, to McCauley’s 68 votes, or 48.92 percent.
“Even though Mr. Quinnell looks to be the apparent winner, I would not call the cemetery district race yet,” Eldridge said.
In the Brinnon race, however, “I would say that Mr. McEdwards has won that race,” she added.
After seeing the latest results Tuesday, McEdwards said the results appeared in his favor.
‘Looking forward to serving’
“It looks good so I’m looking forward to serving my community and helping make the fire station better,” McEdwards said.
Eastman was unavailable for comment Tuesday.
The Gardiner cemetery commissioner race pitted two good friends against each other. McCauley said he was quick to call up Quinnell to congratulate him for his close victory.
“The chair of the cemetery board said it was most exciting cemetery board election in years,” Quinnell joked.
McCauley said he would continue to support keeping the cemetery well maintained and offered any help he could.
Outstanding ballots
The auditor’s office has three ballots still in hand, two provisional and one that came in the mail today, Eldridge said.
It also has 29 ballots with missing or invalid signatures. Voters who returned those ballots have been notified, and must contact the auditor’s office at the Jefferson County Courthouse, 1820 Jefferson St., Port Townsend, by Nov. 23 to resolve the problems.
Of the challenged ballots, two are from the Brinnon district, while one would affect the Gardiner Cemetery race.
That one vote, were it cast for McCauley, could tip the margin of votes in that race into a mandatory recount after the election is certified Nov. 24, Eldridge said.
All other races have been decided.
“The only thing that could possibly happen could be a recount in the cemetery district,” Eldridge said.
Any race that ends with less than a half of a percentage-point difference goes to an automatic machine recount.
A race that ends within a quarter of a percentage point goes to an automatic hand recount, said David Ammons, state Secretary of State spokesman.
Countywide voter turnout in the general election is 64.63 percent, with 14,208 ballots returned out of 21,983 mailed to registered voters.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.