PORT TOWNSEND — Cheri Van Hoover and Bruce J. McComas appear headed for a general election showdown for a seat on the Jefferson Healthcare hospital commission while Wilma J. Hackman and Jack McKay are likely to vie in November for the District 5 seat on the Chimacum School Board.
Initial count of votes from Jefferson and Clallam counties show Clallam-Jefferson Fire Protection District 3 incumbent Steven Chinn and challenger Sean Ryan headed for the Nov. 7 general election.
Primary races are among three candidates. In Washington state’s top-two primary, the two hopefuls for a seat who receive the highest number of votes go on to the general election.
Initial results of balloting in Tuesday’s primary election show Van Hoover with 3,416 votes, or 48.10 percent, to McComas’s 3,132 votes, or 44.10 percent. Bernie Donanberg won 554 votes, or 7.80 percent. They seek Position 1 on the commission, a seat vacated by Anthony DeLeo, who has served on the commission for more than 40 years.
More votes will come in this week, although the Jefferson County Auditor’s Office counted all it had on hand Tuesday night.
The next count of ballots will be by 2 p.m. Friday.
In the Chimacum School Board race, McKay won 824 votes, or 38.83 percent, to Hackman’s 751 votes, or 35.39 percent. Jared Shepherd received 547 votes, or 25.78 percent.
In the primary race for Position 2 on the Fire District 3 commission, Chinn won 5,652 votes, or 79.82 percent, to Ryan’s 1,057 votes, or 14.93 percent, between the two counties. Robert Porrazzo netted 372 votes, or 5.25 percent.
Chinn was the top choice in both Clallam and Jefferson counties. In Clallam County, he won 5,585 votes, or 79.84 percent, to Ryan’s 1,043 votes, or 14.91 percent. In Jefferson County, he garnered 67 votes, or 77.91 percent, to Ryan’s 14 votes, or 16.28 percent.
Porrazzo won 367 votes, or 5.25 percent, in Clallam County and 5 votes, or 5.81 percent, in Jefferson County.
The Jefferson County Auditor’s Office counted a total of 7,217 ballots for a voter turnout of 29.59 percent of the 24,391 ballots provided voters.
Tuesday night, the Clallam County Auditor counted 11,767 ballots for a voter turnout of 25.34 percent out of the 46,434 ballots provided to eligible voters.
Voters statewide had returned 655,336 ballots — or 17 percent — of the 3.8 million mailed as of 8 a.m. Tuesday, according to the Secretary of State’s Office at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-statestats.