Jefferson County primary election ballots due Tuesday

County commission seat among contests

PORT TOWNSEND — The Jefferson County primary election ballots are due by 8 p.m. Tuesday. They include one county contest, two in the 24th Legislative District, numerous state races and one congressional office race.

The primary election culls the choices in each race to the top-two vote-getters who will face each other in the Nov. 3 general election. All partisan candidates appear on the primary ballot whether they have opponents or not, as do races with three or more candidates. Those with only two candidates will automatically go on to the general election.

Ballots were mailed to 26,465 registered voters on July 15. They must be delivered to the Auditor’s Office — which will remain open until 8 p.m. Tuesday — placed in a drop box or postmarked by 8 p.m. Tuesday to be counted.

As of Friday, the Jefferson County Auditor’s Office had received 8,636 ballots, or 32 percent.

Drop boxes can be found at these locations.

Jefferson County Courthouse: 1820 Jefferson St., in the back parking lot.

Brinnon Community Center: 306144 U.S. Highway 101.

Quilcene Community Center: 294952 U.S. Highway 101.

Jefferson County Library: 620 Cedar Ave., next to the book drop in the parking lot.

Nordland Fire Station: 6633 Flagler Road.

There also is a drop box in the hallway outside the Auditor’s Office on the first floor of the county courthouse that is accessible from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, with Election Day hours from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Democrats Amanda Rae Funaro and Heidi Eisenhour of Port Hadlock and Lorna Smith of Port Townsend are running for the Position 2 Jefferson County commissioner seat held by Democrat David Sullivan, who is not running for re-election.

Incumbent Jefferson County Superior Court Judge Keith Harper faces no opposition on the Nov. 3 ballot along with incumbent Jefferson County Public Utility District Commissioner Kenneth Collins.

In statewide races, 36 candidates are running for governor, including incumbent Jay Inslee; 11 for lieutenant governor; four for secretary of state, including incumbent Kim Wyman; three for state auditor, including incumbent Pat McCarthy; four for attorney general, including incumbent Bob Ferguson; seven for commissioner of public lands, including incumbent Hilary Franz; six for superintendent of public instruction, including incumbent Chris Reykdal; and three for insurance commissioner, including incumbent Mike Kreidler.

Of the state races, the state treasurer’s has only two candidates, including incumbent Duane Davidson. Both candidates will advance to the general election.

Five people are running against Congressman Derek Kilmer for the seat representing the 6th Congressional District, which includes the North Olympic Peninsula. This year’s race is unusual in that Kilmer has opposition from a member of his own party, Democrat Rebecca Parsons.

In the 24th Legislative District — which includes Clallam and Jefferson counties and part of Grays Harbor County — Democratic state Reps. Mike Chapman of Port Angeles and Steve Tharinger of Port Townsend face primary contests.

Chapman is challenged for his Position 1 seat by Sue Forde, a Republican, and Daniel Charles Svoboda, who stated his party preference on the ballot as Trump Republican Party.

Tharinger is opposed by fellow Democrat Darren Corcoran and by Republican Brian Pruiett. Republican Jodi Wilke’s name is on the ballot in this race, but she announced her withdrawal from the race last month.

Also on the ballot will be Sen. Kevin Van De Wege, a Sequim Democrat opposed by Republican Connie Beauvais. Since they are only two people in the race, they will both move on to the general election.

The Peninsula Daily News has published stories on primary contests involving the Jefferson County commissioner contest and the state Legislature. They can be found online at peninsuladailynews.com.

A statewide online voters’ guide is available at www.votewa.gov. Printed voters’ pamphlets are not produced for primaries.

The forums for the Jefferson County commissioner race can be viewed at https://www.lwvwa.org/Jefferson.

Other League of Women Voters forums are at www.lwvwa.org/forums.

On Tuesday night, the PDN will publish results online. Stories on the initial results, as well as updates following Election Night as more ballots are counted, will be published in the print editions beginning Thursday.

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