EDITOR’S NOTE: Chris Noble is a write-in candidate running against Stan Williams for the Position 3 seat on the Port Angeles School Board. His name was inadvertently omitted from this story.
Today is the final day to return completed ballots for the 2023 General Election.
Ballots must be postmarked or delivered to drop boxes by 8 tonight to be counted.
Although a variety of elections on the ballots in Clallam and Jefferson counties have only one candidate, contested races number 12 in Clallam County and nine in Jefferson County, where voters also will decide upon a proposed sales tax hike in Port Townsend.
Voter turnouts as of end of business Monday were more than 29 percent, with Clallam County’s voter turnout at 29.35 percent — 16,834 ballots out of 57,352 ballots given to registered voters — and 29.61 percent in Jefferson County, with 8,202 ballots returned out of 27,702 provided to registered voters.
The proposed sales tax increase on the Jefferson County ballot would raise the sales tax, which is now 9.1 percent, by 0.3 percent in Port Townsend. It needs a simple majority to pass. If approved, it would add 30 cents to each $100 of sales within Port Townsend, providing an estimated $800,000 annually.
Funds, which would be available to the city in May, would exclusively fund street and sidewalk improvements within the city limits — the area of the Port Townsend Transportation Benefit District — while all those who shop in Port Townsend would pay the tax regardless of their places of residence.
Clallam County
Two positions on the Clallam County ballot are listed as contested but actually are not, since people who withdrew from the races did so too late to have their names removed from the ballot.
County Commissioner District 1 incumbent Mark Ozias is listed as challenged by Stan McClain, who has withdrawn. Sequim School Board member Michael Rocha is listed as challenged by Sandra Kellso, who also has withdrawn.
Actual contested races are:
• Port of Port Angeles commission incumbent Connie Beauvais is challenged by Lee Whetham.
• Hospital District No. 1 (Forks) commission incumbent Sandy Schier is challenged by Amy Kitchel Ruble.
• Port Angeles City Council member Amy Miller is challenged by Jim Haguewood; incumbent Navarra Carr is challenged by Mark Karjalainen; and Deputy Mayor Brendan Meyer is challenged by Kalli Mae Jones.
• Sequim City Council incumbent William Armacost is challenged by Kathy Downer, who currently holds Position 2 in which Jim Black is facing off against Dan Butler; and Harmony Rutter and Patrick Day vie for Position 6.
• Sequim School Board incumbent Larry Jeffryes is challenged by John Graham, while member Maren Halvorsen is challenged by Derek Huntington.
• Cape Flattery School Board member Don Baker is challenged by Cathy Walde.
• Clallam County Park and Recreation District commission has three hopefuls: Jason Bushman, Robert Kellso and Dick Neal.
Jefferson County
• Port of Port Townsend commission incumbent Pam Petranek faces Chuck Fauls.
• Queets-Clearwater School Board member Rosemary Jackson faces Sarah Charles.
• Quilcene School Board sees races between Ron Frantz and Ronald Leon Jones; and Anne Bessey and James Hodgson.
• Port Townsend School Board incumbent Simon Little is challenged by Annie Bartos; Matt Klontz faces Nancy Papasodora; and incumbent Nathaneal L. O’Hara faces Timothy S. Hawley.
Sequim School District races are also on the Jefferson County ballot because the district, which is largely in Clallam County, edges into East Jefferson County.
New voters who have not registered online have until 8 p.m. today to register in person at auditors’ offices in Clallam and Jefferson counties in the Clallam County Courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St. in Port Angeles, or the Jefferson County Courthouse, 1820 Jefferson St. in Port Townsend.
Registered voters may access their registration details and other voter information online at www.votewa.gov. Those needing a replacement ballot may also access a printable ballot via the secure website, or obtain one by contacting their county auditor.
Official ballot drop boxes can be found at the following locations:
In Clallam County:
• Port Angeles: Clallam County Courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St. On the courthouse circular drive; on the sidewalk across from disabled parking or inside at the Elections and Voter Registration Office.
• Clallam Bay: 16990 state Highway 112, in front of the Clallam Bay Branch Library.
• Forks: 500 E. Division St., outside Forks City Hall.
• Neah Bay: 1450 Bayview Ave., in front of Washburn’s General Store by the left Totem Pole.
• Sekiu: 15 Sekiu Airport Road (at the Clallam County Public Utility District No. 1 building in the drive-up lane).
• Carlsborg: 261461 U.S. Highway 101, near Sunny Farms adjacent to Mill Road.
• Sequim: 651 W. Washington St., in the parking lot.
In Jefferson County:
• Port Townsend: Jefferson County Courthouse, 1820 Jefferson St. Drive-up Ballot Drop Box (back parking lot); walk-up ballot dropbox (in front of the courthouse steps) or inside the Jefferson County Auditor’s Office.
• Brinnon: Brinnon Community Center, 306144 U.S. Highway 101, Brinnon.
• Quilcene: Quilcene Community Center, 294952 U.S. Highway 101, Quilcene.
• Port Hadlock: Jefferson County Library, 620 Cedar Ave.
• Nordland: Nordland Fire Station, 6633 Flagler Road.
• Port Ludlow: Olympic Peninsula Gateway Visitor Center, 93 Beaver Valley Road.
• Hoh Indian Nation: 2261 Lower Hoh Road, Forks, in front of the Tribal Police Center.
• Quinault Indian Nation (Queets): Queets Avenue, Forks, in front of the Queets Tribal Office.
Additional voter information can be found at VoteWA.gov; ClallamCountyWa.gov/Elections or Co.Jefferson.Wa.US/Elections.
Results will be posted after 8 p.m. Tuesday on county auditor websites and on the Peninsula Daily News website at www.peninsuladailynews.com. Elections will be certified on Nov. 28.