PORT TOWNSEND — Shipwright, land surveyor and Port of Port Townsend tenant Dave Thompson led retired development specialist Kathy McKenna by a wide margin for a Port commission vacancy Tuesday night.
Thompson was leading by 5,578 to 4,318 votes, or 56.17 percent to 43.48 percent, for District 2 Port commissioner.
The votes were tallied on election day by the Jefferson County Auditor’s Office from among 21,298 mailed out for the all-mail, countywide election.
Election workers still have up to 600 ballots to count that were delivered personally to the county Auditor’s Office Tuesday or dropped off at the county courthouse drop box, Auditor Donna Eldridge said Tuesday night.
Eldridge expects an additional estimated 1,200 ballots were postmarked Tuesday, the last day voters could submit ballots. Votes will be counted Thursday and Nov. 22. The election will be certified Nov. 29.
“Trends tend to stay the same,” Eldridge said.
Thompson, 62, waited for returns Tuesday night outside Eldridge’s office.
“I’m pleased that I’m ahead,” he said.
“The margin is a pretty big percentage difference,” said McKenna, 58, in a telephone interview from the Valley Tavern in Port Hadlock, where she was monitoring returns.
“Of course, I’m disappointed that I did not reach as many people and get my message out. [Thompson’s] time here is much longer than mine, and I would imagine that played a big part in it.”
But she was not ready to concede, she said.
“I’d rather wait until Thursday” for more definitive ballot numbers, she said.