Results from August's primary election were certified Wednesday, and with the tallies made official, no major changes were seen in any of the close races throughout the Mid-Columbia.
In one of the closest races in Benton County, Brent Gerry held off Craig Sloughter in a second-place race to challenge Angie Tyree for a spot on the West Richland City Council during the Nov. 3 general election.
Tyree was the top vote-getter with 531 votes, or 36.9 percent. Gerry was second with 497 votes, or 34.5 percent, and Sloughter was third with 413 votes, or 28.7 percent.
In Adams County, Kenneth Johnson held on to win the right to challenge top vote-getter Tim Wilson in a run for mayor of Othello. Johnson was locked in a tight race with Eleanor Brodahl, but won by a five-vote margin. Johnson received 148 votes to Brodahl's 143. Councilman Wilson received 370 votes.
In the race for a Port of Kennewick Commission seat, Jeff Losey won the second spot on the November ballot with 1,469 votes, or 28.3 percent, to Calvin Dudney's 1,392, or 26.8 percent. Skip Novakovich was the top vote-getter with 2,333, or 44.9 percent.
Although the race is awaiting the secretary of state's certification on Tuesday, Republican Pat Hailey looks to have held off Democrat Glen Stockwell in her bid to challenge Republican Susan Fagan in the general election to be the 9th District state representative.
Fagan won the race with 6,508 votes, or 29.3 percent, and Hailey will advance to the general with 5,716 votes, or 25.7 percent.
Stockwell is out of the race with 5,399 votes, or 24.3 percent. GOP candidate Art Swannack received 2,747 votes, and Republican Darin Watkins had 1,866 votes.
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Prosser School Board incumbent is clear leader
Prosser School Board incumbent is clear leader
PROSSER -- Prosser School Board incumbent Timothy D. Rankin will have a chance to keep his District 2 seat.
Rankin is the clear leader in the three-way race, which means he will move on to the general election. He received 796 votes, or 43 percent, according to unofficial Benton and Klickitat county results.
But it's a tight race to see who will challenge Rankin. Bill Jenkin has 527 votes, or 29 percent, with Larry Loges coming in third with 512 votes, or 28 percent.
West Richland Pos 7: Councilman is top vote getter so far
West Richland Pos 7: Councilman is top vote getter so far
West Richland Councilman Tony Benegas fought off a challenge by three residents for a chance to retain his council seat.
Benegas, 50, is the top vote-getter so far, receiving 532 votes, or 37 percent, according to unofficial returns.
It appears Benegas, who owns a small engineering firm in Richland, will go head-to-head with Johan Curtiss in the Nov. 8 general election for the Position 7 seat. Benegas has been on the council since 2007.
Recent ballots show no big changes
Recent ballots show no big changes
A count of recently received ballots from last week's primary increased some candidates' leads and narrowed a few others but brought no changes in the lineup for the Nov. 8 general election.
Steve Young, Kennewick's Ward 3 councilman, still holds an easy two-to-one margin over the closest challenger, Loren Nichols, with 940 votes, for 62 percent.
Nichols, whose controversial stand against illegal immigration and call for Kennewick to be an English language-only city gave him media attention, earned nearly 26 percent, or 393 of the 1,523 ballots cast.
Voters return incumbents to their seats
Voters return incumbents to their seats
Voters were standing by the incumbents in the Richland School Board race on Tuesday.
In the race for Position 3, incumbent Rick Donahoe received 5,624 votes, or about 55 percent, over Gordon Comfort's 4,533.
For Position 4, incumbent Mary Guay had 5,218 votes, or nearly 52 percent, while Brian Barth received 4,877 votes.
Time for political parties
to elect their own officials
Time for political parties
to elect their own officials
The state's Democratic and Republican parties share a unified stance on at least one position -- thwarting the will of Washington's voters.
Their unending quest to force partisan primaries on a population the clearly rejects them recently took an absurd turn.
Early this year, the parties convinced a judge that including elections for party precinct committee members on the state's nonpartisan primary ballots violated the political parties' constitutional rights.
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