Pasco school board incumbents lead after initial primary counts

Incumbents lead both races for the Pasco school board.

School board members Amy Phillips and Steve Christensen were leading their primary races to move onto the November general election.

Christensen received 1,619 votes, or 44 percent, leading his challengers Debi Maxwell and Brian Griffith, who were just seven votes apart. Maxwell had 1,020 votes and Griffith received 1,013.

If her lead holds, Maxwell will advance to the general election. However, she has said she won’t be able to take office if she’s elected because she moved out of the district. She didn’t leave the race soon enough to take her name off the ballot.

Phillips had 1,657 votes, or 45 percent. Jeffrey Peterson was trailing with 1,141 votes, or 30 percent, and Marlando Sparks had 899 votes, or 24 percent.

The Franklin County Auditor’s Office reports there are 100 ballots left to count but more will be coming in the mail.

Christensen said the results are good news for now, but he can see that there is work needed to keep his spot.

Griffith said was optimistic he will be able to pull ahead of Maxwell.

“I’m eager to see the returns that come back tomorrow,” he said.

In the second face, Phillips, a homemaker, foster parent and mother of seven, said the district is starting to move in the right direction and she wants to be part of the solution.

In her time on the board, she has worked to improve the district’s special education and highly capable programs, she said.

She was excited about the results, since she was worried the 2015 strike could mean voters were looking for a change on the board.

“That’s very good news,” she said. “I’m very excited going into the general.”

Peterson, a father of five, is seeking a more efficient school district. With a budget that dwarfs the city’s, the school board needs to spend the money serving students, he has said.

There is a lot of work left to be done, before moving onto the November election, he said.

“I’m looking forward to meeting more of the community and getting the word out more,” he said. “If you look at the challengers and put those numbers together they are leading the incumbents.”

This story was originally published August 1, 2017 at 9:29 PM with the headline "Pasco school board incumbents lead after initial primary counts."