BY KIRK BOXLEITNER
As of the last ballot count on Monday, Nov. 13, only one incumbent elected official running for office exclusively within Jefferson County appeared not to have retained their seat, while the sole measure on the ballot was passing by a comfortable margin.
Of the contested candidate races on the ballot for Tuesday, Nov. 7:
• In the Port of Port Townsend Commissioner District 1 race, for a four-year term, incumbent Pam Petranek was winning with 9,398 votes, or 87.63 percent of the votes cast, while challenger Chuck Fauls had received 1,290 votes, or 12.03 percent of the votes cast.
• In the Queets-Clearwater School District Director Position 5 race, for a two-year unexpired term, challenger Sarah Charles was winning with 13 votes, or 61.9 percent of the votes cast, while incumbent Rosemary Jackson had received 8 votes, or 38.1 percent of the votes cast.
• In the Quilcene School District Director District 1 race, for a four-year term, non-incumbent candidate Ron Frantz was winning with 419 votes or 71.62 percent of the votes cast, while fellow non-incumbent candidate Ronald Leon Jones had received 159 votes, or 27.18 percent of the votes cast.
• In the Quilcene School District Director at Large Position 4 race, for a four-year term, non-incumbent candidate James Hodgson was winning with 357 votes, or 55.61 percent of the votes cast, while fellow non-incumbent candidate Anne Bessey had received 284 votes, or 44.24 percent of the votes cast.
• In the Port Townsend School District Director District 2 race, for a four-year term, incumbent Simon Little was winning with 4,905 votes, or 83.6 percent of the votes cast, while challenger Annie Bartos had received 952 votes, or 16.23 percent of the votes cast.
• In the Port Townsend School District Director District 3 race, for a four-year term, non-incumbent candidate Matt Klontz was winning with 4,933 votes, or 81.56 percent of the votes cast, while fellow non-incumbent candidate Nancy Papasodora had received 1,103 votes, or 18.24 percent of the votes cast.
• In the Port Townsend School District Director at Large Position 5 race, for a four-year term, incumbent Nathanael O’Hara was winning with 3,361 votes, or 56.53 percent of the votes cast, while challenger Timothy S. Hawley had received 2,570 votes, or 43.22 percent of the votes cast.
The sole ballot measure, proposing a transportation benefit district for the City of Port Townsend, with a sales-and-use tax for transportation improvements, was winning with 3,478 “yes” votes, or 79.77 percent of the votes cast, and had received 882 “no” votes, or 20.23 percent of the votes cast.
The next ballot count will be posted on Thursday, Nov. 16, at results.vote.wa.gov/results/20231107/jefferson online.
