UPDATE: Challengers dominate second ballot count

WEB UPDATE: In Wednesday’s second ballot count, slightly more than 3,600 votes were added to results in Mason County, helping Republican challengers Steve Duenkel (auditor) and Charles Rhodes (clerk) to erase leads held by their incumbent Democrat opponents after Tuesday’s initial tally.

Duenkel now leads Paddy McGuire by seven votes and Rhodes leads Sharon Moore-Fogo by 124 votes.

According to the Secretary of State’s website, approximately 3,000 votes remain to be counted, in addition to ballots still in the mail.

After Wednesday’s count, 25,513 ballots have been county and the overall turnout stands at 57.02%

Incumbents, Republicans winning big in initial tally

Incumbents and Republicans were faring well in the first general election ballot count Tuesday in Mason County.

In the initial count, 21,412 votes were counted for a turnout of 48.62%. The results of the second ballot count were scheduled to be released at 5 p.m. Wednesday, after the Journal went to press.

Three Republicans were leading in their quests to represent the 35th District in the state Legislature. The first ballot count gave Republican Drew MacEwen a 4,175-vote lead districtwide over Democrat Julianne Gale for a four-year term as state senator. In the races to represent the 35th District in the state House of Representatives in Position 1, incumbent Dan Griffey had a solid lead over Democrat challenger James DeHart, and Republican Travis Couture leads Sandy Kaiser in Position 2.

The county’s incumbent auditor, assessor and clerk — Paddy McGuire, Patti McLean and Sharon Moore-Fogo — all had leads over challengers in the first count. Sharon Trask had a 10-point lead on challenger Miguel Gutierrez for a second term on the Mason County Commission.