PORT TOWNSEND — Incumbent Jefferson County Sheriff Joe Nole had a commanding lead in his re-election bid over fellow democratic challenger Art Frank in the most recent count of ballots from Tuesday’s election.
Neither responded Wednesday to repeated requests for comment
Nole won 9,721 of the votes (67.78 percent), while Frank garnered 4,525 votes (31.55 percent).
The next count of ballots will be today.
Nole had won 71 percent of the vote in the 2022 primary in August compared with Frank’s 27 percent.
Nole and Frank were members of the department during a particularly turbulent period under former Sheriff Dave Stanko.
In 2018, Nole defeated incumbent Stanko, who had appointed Nole undersheriff after he was elected in 2014.
Stanko subsequently demoted Nole to detective and appointed Frank, who had joined the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office as a deputy in 2016, as undersheriff.
When Nole took over the office, he removed Frank as undersheriff and reassigned him to patrol duty.
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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached at paula.hunt@soundpublishing.com.
Art Frank.