Oldson ahead of Amidan by seven votes in Richland School Board race

A Richland School Board race remains tight after the first Benton County election results in a week were released Friday afternoon.

Jill Oldson leads Brett Amidan by seven votes, with 6,153 votes for Oldson, or 50.03 percent, to 6,146 votes for Amidan, or 49.97 percent. The race has tightened since election night, when Oldson was ahead by 154 votes.

Oldson and Amidan are running to replace board member Mary Guay, who did not seek re-election. The winner will be the second new member on the board, along with Gordon Comfort who leads incumbent Phyllis Strickler by 515 votes.

Dori Luzzo Gilmour increased her lead for the Richland City Council seat formerly held by Greg Jones, who resigned in August to take a job in New Mexico. Luzzo Gilmour collected 4,606 votes, or 50.5 percent, to Jones’ 4,521 votes, or 49.5 percent. The council will select a member if Jones receives more votes.

An estimated 482 votes remain uncounted in Benton County. The next release of vote totals will be on Nov. 20. Despite the close races, Benton County has the lowest voter turnout of any county in Washington, at 32.6 percent.

Franklin County, where the last results were tabulated Nov. 6, is not expected to release more results until Nov. 23. An estimated 45 ballots remain uncounted there.

It is unclear how many, if any, of those votes are in Kahlotus, where Bob Hagans and Marcia Robitaille are tied at 19 votes each. Hagans, then running as a write-in candidate, also tied Molly Robitaille, Marcia’s daughter-in-law, in 2011. Hagans won a coin toss to break the 21-21 deadlock.

This story was originally published November 13, 2015 at 6:33 PM with the headline "Oldson ahead of Amidan by seven votes in Richland School Board race."