General election ballots will be mailed today from county auditor’s offices for voters registered in Clallam and Jefferson counties.
Ballots must be filled out and mailed by Nov. 2, or placed in drop boxes before 8 p.m. Nov. 2 to be counted.
Nineteen races are contested in Clallam County, although in one race, one person on the ballot can’t serve. The other candidates are running unopposed.
Sarah Huling, an X-Ray technician at Olympic Medical Center, and Linda Offut, a retired manager for the Forks Timber Museum, are vying for the Position 1 seat on the Forks Community Hospital board.
The Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles has two contested seats.
J. Thomas Oblak, incumbent and a retired director of environment and safety in hospitals, and Jim McEntire, a Coast Guard veteran and retired federal senior executive, are running for Position 2.
Heather Jeffers and Karen Rogers are both seeking the at-large seat. Rogers is a small business owner and Jeffers is the executive director of a long-term nursing center.
Forks voters will decide a mayoral contest as well as Positions 2 and 3 on the Forks City Council.
Incumbent Tim Fletcher is challenged by Steve Wright for the mayor’s post. Fletcher has spent 15 years working in the timber industry and prior to that worked as a network administrator in the tech industry, which included instruction at Peninsula College. Wright is an agrobiologist and an Air Force veteran.
The Forks council Position 2 race is between Clinton W. Wood and Josef Echeita. Wood is the director for facilities at Forks Community Hospital and a U.S. Army veteran. Echeita is a counselor at Clallam Bay Corrections Center since he moved back to Forks in 2011.
Vying for the Position 3 seat on the Forks council are incumbent Joe Soha and Sarah Holmes, who has worked in the hospitality industry in Seattle but is currently working as a graphic artist and children’s author.
Four of the seven seats on the Port Angeles City Council are up for grabs, including that of Mayor Kate Dexter.
Dexter, elected mayor by her fellow council members two years ago, is defending her Position 4 seat against retired veterinarian John W. Procter.
The race for Position 1 on the Port Angeles City Council is between appointee LaTrisha Suggs and Adam Garcia. Suggs is a member of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe and works for the tribe. Garcia has lived in Port Angeles since 1992, is an Army veteran and currently works for the Veterans Health Administration.
Incumbent Mike French, a small business owner, is challenged for the Position 2 seat by John Madden, another small business owner.
Finally, for Position 3 for the Port Angeles City Council, incumbent Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin, an attorney, is challenged by Jena Stamper, a small business owner.
In Sequim, five of seven positions are up for election.
Officeholders are Sarah Kincaid, Position 2; Mike Pence, Position 3; Rachel Anderson, Position 4, Brandon Janisse, Position 5; and Keith Larkin, Position 6. All but Janisse, who was elected in 2018, were appointed to the positions.
Kincaid’s opponent is Kathy Downer, a retired nurse. Pence’s opponent is Vicki L. Lowe, who has worked in health administration since 1996.
Anderson’s opponent is Darryl Ness, who had a career on the railroad system.
Janisse’s opponent is Patrick Day, former corrections officer.
Larkin’s opponent is Lowell Rathbun, a retired design engineer from Oregon.
In the Port Angeles School Board races, incumbent Sarah Methner is challenged for her Position 1 seat by Lola Moses, a member of the Lower Elwha Tribe and an early education disabilities manager.
Mary Hebert, longtime administrator and teacher, and Gabi Johnson, an accounting manager, are running for Position 2 on the Port Angeles School Board.
The Sequim School Board has one contested race. Virginia R. Sheppard, a small business owner, and Kristi Schmeck, who cannot serve because she withdrew prior to the primary election, are on the ballot for the Position 4 seat.
Some residents of East Jefferson County will vote in this race.
The Clallam County Fire District 3 contest for Position 1 on the commission features Jeff Nicholas, a retired Naval submarine captain, and Duane Chamlee, a U.S. Army veteran and retired California deputy fire chief.
Oct. 25 is the last day for voter registration online and by mail, although in-person registration can be done up to 8 p.m. Nov. 2 at county auditor’s offices.
Ballot drop box locations for Clallam County are:
• Carlsborg — 261461 U.S. Highway 101 near Sunny Farms, adjacent to Mill Road.
• Clallam Bay — 16990 state Highway 112 in front of the Clallam Bay Branch Library.
• Forks — 500 E. Division St. outside of Forks City Hall.
• Neah Bay — 1450 Bayview Ave. in front of Washburn’s General Store.
• Port Angeles — 223 E. Fourth St. in the courthouse circular drive, as well as a second one directly across from the disabled parking.
• Sekiu — 15 Sekiu Airport Road at the Public Utility District’s drive-up lane.
• Sequim — 651 W. Washington St. in the parking lot.
For more information, see clallam.net/Auditor/Elections.html.
