Primary election results certified with few changes

Spokane County election officials certified the results of the Aug. 5 primary on Tuesday, Aug. 19, wrapping up the vote by counting a final 403 ballots Aug. 18.

There weren’t many changes from the results tallied two weeks ago. In the four-way race for the 5th District congressional seat, Republican incumbent Cathy McMorris Rodgers still enjoyed a commanding lead over her upcoming general election challenger, Democrat Joe Pakootas. McMorris Rodgers finished with 49.41 percent of the Spokane County vote to Pakootas’ 30.43 percent, a slight increase over her first-time political opponent.

District wide, McMorris lead has fallen from 55.31 percent election day to 51.75 percent as of Aug. 18. Pakootas percentage had also fallen from 29.19 to 28.65 percent, with the third-place finisher, Independent Dave Wilson, dropping from 12.15 to 11.39, whereas the fourth-place candidate, Republican Tom Horn, gained votes, finishing with 8.21 percent compared to 7.73 percent Aug. 5.

In races affecting voters on the West Plains, Republican incumbent Michael Baumgartner still led Democratic challenger Rich Cowan 57.13 to 42.69 percent in the race for 6th Legislative District state senator, a margin roughly the same as on election night. Republican incumbent Kevin Parker enjoyed a slight increase in his lead over Democrat Donald Dover in the 6th Legislative District state representative position 1 race, finishing with 63.33 percent of the vote compared to 62.91 percent Aug. 5. In the position 2 race, Jeff Holy received 93.90 percent of the vote, compared to 94.10 election night.

Holy will face Medical Lake’s Ziggy Siegfried, who received enough write-in votes to qualify for the November general election. Siegfried received 513 of the 1,444 write-in votes, 1.56 percent of the 32,843 total ballots cast in the district.

Republican incumbents Susan Fagan and Joe Schmick both ran uncontested in their 9th District state representative races.

In the race for Spokane County Commissioner District 3, Republican incumbent Al French finished the primary with a narrow 75/100ths of a percent lead over Democratic challenger and political newcomer Mary Lou Johnson, 36.66 percent to 35.91 percent. Johnson had led French 36.43 percent to 36.17 percent election night.

Former county commissioner Bonnie Mager ended up with 27.20 percent of the vote; a figure virtually unchanged since Aug. 5. The Cheney-area Mager ran as an Independent rather than a Democrat in the August primary.

In other races, the November general election will feature incumbent Vicki Horton facing Roger Trainor for county assessor, incumbent Vicki Dalton facing Alene Lindstrand for county auditor and Democrat challenger Amy Biviano squaring off against Republican incumbent Rob Chase for treasure. On the law enforcement side, Republican Larry Haskell, receiving 57.75 percent of the vote, will face Democrat Breean Beggs, at 42.01 percent, in the race to replace retiring prosecuting attorney Steve Tucker while incumbent Ozzie Knezovich will face Doug Orr in the race for sheriff.

Overall turnout for the primary election finished at 35.39 percent with 99,177 of a possible 281,056 ballots cast. The turnout is the fourth lowest percentage in the last 10 years, but much better than last year’s 22.22 percent.

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.