County draws strong initial turnout

Washington got bluer, America got redder and Mason County didn't change much.

That was the overall takeaway of the initial results from the Nov. 5 general election, released late Tuesday night.

With more than 29,500 ballots counted in Tuesday's tally, Mason County's initial turnout was 63.6%, placing it in the top 10 by turnout of Washington's 39 counties.

The next ballot count was scheduled for 5 p.m. Wednesday, after the Journal went to press.

The county has an estimated 5,000 ballots left to count.

Mason County Auditor Steve Duenkel said almost 60 volunteers participated on Election Day, including members of the Shelton NJROTC who helped direct traffic past the ballot drop box next to the election center. Other volunteers came from the League of Women Voters of Mason County and the Republican and Democratic parties. 

"The team has just done an incredible job," Duenkel said. He added, "It helps it's not raining like crazy."

The department didn't have any issues with voting machines, Duenkel said. All the ballots were collected from drop boxes Tuesday evening, he said.

"We have a lot of new voters ... Tomorrow we'll have a lot of ballots to count," said Marie Stevenson, Mason County's election superintendent. She added, "I'm happy things are going well."

In statewide races, Attorney General Bob Ferguson will replace Jay Inslee as governor of Washington after getting 56% of the vote in his race with former Congressman and King County Sheriff Dave Reichert. In Mason County, Reichert led the initial count with 54.14% of the vote.

Democrats also appear to have handily won all statewide offices.

Statewide ballot initiatives regarding the repeal of the state's carbon trading program, long-term care program and capital gains tax were all soundly defeated. A ballot initiative to ensure continued access to natural gas was narrowly passing 51.2% to 48.8%.

According to the Secretary of State's website, 2,642,738 votes were tallied in Tuesday's initial count for a statewide turnout of 52.66 percent. As of Wednesday morning, an estimated 793,865 votes remained to be counted with a bulk of those in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties.

Voters nationwide returned Donald Trump to the White House, with the former president being the projected Electoral College winner after flipping Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as of Wednesday morning's counts.

In Mason County, Trump got 48.73% of the vote, while Kamala Harris received 48.27%.

All election results are considered unofficial until canvassed, which in Mason County is scheduled for 2 p.m. Nov. 26.