BRINNON — Incumbent Brinnon Fire Commissioner Ken McEdwards said Tuesday he isn’t impressed much by his lead of “three little votes.”
“With just those three votes we’re going to have to wait and see,” McEdwards said.
After 541 ballots were counted, McEdwards led his opponent, Mike Eastman, by three votes, or 0.56 percent, in the race for commissioner position 2 in the Brinnon district.
The tally after the initial count of general election votes Tuesday was Eastman, 269 votes, or 49.72 percent, and McEdwards, 272 votes, or 50.28 percent.
Eastman said he also is awaiting more vote tallies.
“It seems to be split with everybody down here in Brinnon,” Eastman said.
“I guess it’s going to be a few more days and a few more votes.”
Jefferson County Auditor Donna Eldridge’s office tallied 11,985 ballots of the 21,983 mailed.
Eldridge said she was unsure how many additional ballots would be arriving from Brinnon Precinct 204 but said that about 600 additional ballots from throughout the county had not been counted Tuesday.
Eldridge also said she expected about 1,000 votes to arrive by mail on Wednesday.
Next ballot count
The next count of ballots will be noon Thursday.
Both candidates have told voters they want to ensure that money raised in an emergency medical service levy voters passed in August is spent properly.
Eastman, 61, of Brinnon and a retired member of the Boeing Fire Department, is the challenger to incumbent McEdwards, 47, of Brinnon, a camp director at Camp Parsons, Boy Scouts of America.
The six-year levy will generate about $130,000 annually to hire a full-time paramedic and improve EMS services to the district’s 3,200 residents when it is implemented in April.
The elected commissioner will have a role on the three member board in deciding how the money is allocated.
The board position is a six-year term.
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Reporter Erik Hidle can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at erik.hidle@peninsuladailynews.com.
