General election nearly set

46% turnout in primaries

Matt Baide | Aug 11, 20220

Sharon Trask and Miguel Gutierrez will be facing off in the general election in November with the primary election results set to be certified next week.

The last update was Aug. 5 and the results will be certified Aug. 16. Gutierrez leads all candidates for commissioner District 3 with 2,350 votes for 43.09%. Trask, the incumbent, is second in the race with 1,638 votes for 30.03%. Fellow Republican candidate Mark Carlson is still third with 1,462 votes for 26.81%.

Only people in District 3 could vote in the primary, with 5,644 votes cast of 12,947 registered voters for a 43.59% turnout. In the general election, the comissioner race is open to all registered county residents.

In other county races, Mason County Clerk should be a close contest in November, with the candidates separated by 24 votes. Sharon K. Moore-

Fogo received 9,772 votes for 50% while Charles G. Rhodes received 9,748 votes for 49.88%.

Mason County auditor was also a close race. Paddy McGuire tallied 9,984 votes for 50.74% and Steve Duenkel totaled 9,672 votes for 49.16%.

McGuire told the Journal there is no mandatory recount in a primary election unless it is close between the second- and third-place candidates.

“Since the winner of the primary only gets to be first on the ballot in the general election, they don’t have a mandatory recount between the first- and second-place finishers,” McGuire said in an email. “It is possible to request (and pay for) a recount.”

Patti McLean won the primary for assessor, receiving 11,400 votes for 58.85%. George Blush received 7,929 votes for 40.93%.

Jaime Taylor received 14,081 votes for 95.48% for coroner running unopposed. Michael Dorcy had 13,458 votes for 95.20% for prosecutor. Ryan Spurling ran unopposed for sheriff and received 13,988 votes for 95.34%. Elisabeth Frazier ran unopposed for treasurer and received 13,430 votes for 94.09%.

Voter turnout is 46.44%, with 20,140 ballots cast out of 43,369 registered voters in Mason County.

Kaiser, Griffey win legislative races

Incumbent Dan Griffey received 57.37% of the vote in Mason County in his bid to be reelected to the state Legislature.

Griffey received 11,262 votes and James DeHart received 8,341 votes for 42.49%. In all counties, Griffey received 26,689 votes for 57.16% and DeHart received 20,088 votes for 42.74%.

The race for position No. 2 will be between Sandy Kaiser and Travis Couture. In Mason County, Kaiser received 8,640 votes for 44.51% and Couture received 5,327 votes for 27.44%. In all counties, Kaiser won with 21,296 votes for 45.5% and Couture received 12,585 votes for 26.89%.

Drew MacEwen leads the race to replace Tim Sheldon in the state Senate. Mac-Ewen received 10,860 votes for 55.55% and Julianne Gale received 8,654 votes for 44.27%. In all counties, Mac-Ewen received 25,802 votes for 54.74% and Gale received 21,276 votes for 45.14%.

Tuson, Lewis move on in PUD 3 election

Juli Tuson and Randy Lewis will face off in November for PUD 3 commissioner district 1.

Tuson received 2,130 votes for 34.98% and Lewis received 1,986 votes for 32.61%.

EMS levies clear 60%

The City of Shelton’s Emergency Medical Services levy measure passed with 60.72% of 1,805 votes cast.

Fire 4’s EMS levy lid-lift measure passed with 62.83% of the vote.

Central Mason Fire & EMS’s levy lid-lift recieved 62.75% of 5,812 votes cast.

Fire 11, also known as Island Lake Fire, saw its EMS levy pass with 73.21% of 616 votes.