Jefferson County election coordinators Quinn Grewell, left, and Betty Johnson work to duplicate ballots that were damaged or had decisions crossed out and changed. The ballot answers are copied from the original ballot to a clean one, matching notated numbers, by a team of two. After the ballots are copied, an additional two people audit the work of the first team to guarantee accuracy. This process allows the ballot machine to correctly record the choices made by voters and the ballots “to be duplicated as the voters intended,” Johnson said. (Zach Jablonski/Peninsula Daily News)

Jefferson County election coordinators Quinn Grewell, left, and Betty Johnson work to duplicate ballots that were damaged or had decisions crossed out and changed. The ballot answers are copied from the original ballot to a clean one, matching notated numbers, by a team of two. After the ballots are copied, an additional two people audit the work of the first team to guarantee accuracy. This process allows the ballot machine to correctly record the choices made by voters and the ballots “to be duplicated as the voters intended,” Johnson said. (Zach Jablonski/Peninsula Daily News)

Brinnon School Board race separated by five votes

Less than 1,000 ballots remain to be counted

PORT TOWNSEND — Candidates for a Brinnon School Board position were separated by five votes as Jefferson County ballot counts were updated.

No outcomes were changed Tuesday as 105 ballots were tabulated in the county’s third count of the Nov. 5 general election ballots, Election Coordinator Quinn Grewell said.

The next count will be released at 4 p.m. Friday. About 988 ballots remain to be counted, Grewell said.

Joe Baisch leads Jolene Elkins for Brinnon School Director Position 3, the tightest race in the county.

Baisch, 71, had 218 votes, or 50.58 percent, compared with Elkins, 50, who had 213 votes, or 49.42 percent.

Jefferson County reported a 57.8 percent voter turnout with 14,962 ballots returned out of the 25,867 provided registered voters.

In Clallam County, the voter turnout was 51.31 percent, or 27,651 ballots returned out of 53,887 provided voters.

In the Port Townsend City Council races, challenger Monica MickHager maintained her lead over incumbent Deborah Stinson for Position 3.

MickHager, 63, has 2,275 votes, or 56.34 percent, and Stinson, 64, has 1,746 votes, or 43.24 percent.

Amy Howard, 37, continues her lead over Bernie Arthur, 80, for the Position 6 seat, while David Faber has been re-elected to Position 7 and Owen Rowe won his unopposed Position 4 seat.

The Port of Port Townsend has more than 7,000 votes and 54.58 percent approving a $15 million levy for capital projects within its Industrial Development District. The measure needed only a simple majority to be approved.

Pam Petranek, 59, continues her lead of more than 72 percent of the vote in her Port Commission District 1 race with Chuck Fauls, 66.

Jill Buhler Rienstra and Matt Ready both were re-elected to their positions on the Jefferson Healthcare hospital commission.

On the Brinnon School Board, Mary Fickett has won the Position 1 seat against Laura F. Beck and Ron Stephens has won the Position 2 seat against Courtney J. Beck. Bill Barnet will take the Position 4 seat in an unopposed race.

On the Quilcene School Board, Viviann Kuehl and Paul Mahan ran unopposed, while Jessica Gossette has defeated Jenelle Cleland for Position 4.

Chimacum School Board seats went to Mickey Nagy, Kristina Mayer and Tami Robocker. Nagy defeated Make Aman, Mayer prevailed against Steve Martin and Robocker beat Michael Raymond, who had been appointed to the board in January.

Three Port Townsend School Board positions also have been decided, with Jeffrey Taylor and Nathanael O’Hara running unopposed, and Doug Ross defeating Harold J. Sherwood.

Voters approved a measure to set commissioner districts within East Jefferson Fire-Rescue territory, and David Seabrook was re-elected in an unopposed race for Commissioner Position 1.

Other fire district approvals included Art Frank for the Quilcene board, Ed Davis and Gene Carmody on the Port Ludlow board, Meril Smith on the Brinnon board and Barb Knoepfle on the Discovery Bay board.

Voters also approved with a supermajority vote a $1.2 million bond for the Brinnon Fire District to replace vehicles, and the renewal of a six-year levy at 15 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value to keep operating the Laurel B. Johnson Community Center in Coyle.

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Jefferson County Managing Editor Brian McLean can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 6, or at bmclean@peninsuladailynews.com.