The Reflector
The first week of ballot counts from the November election are in with one of two formal candidates challenging the Battle Ground City Council establishment looking ahead.
As of the count released Nov. 8, about 104,000 ballots have been counted in Clark County for a voter turnout of about 35.4 percent. About 1,200 ballots were estimated left to count, with the next tally expected at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 12.
A complete report on votes will come as subsequent tallies are made. Results are available at the Clark County Elections website at results.vote.wa.gov/results/20191105/clark/.
Battle Ground
Last week’s results for Battle Ground City Council featured a newcomer motivated to run in part by statewide issues ahead, while incumbents in the other two races appeared poised for success given no major changes over subsequent counts. For Position 3, Shauna Walters had a lead with about 56.9 percent of the vote over Neil Butler’s roughly 42.4 percent. While both were potential newcomers to elected office, incumbent Philip Johnson was ahead of Joshua VanGelder, with 51.4 percent and 47.7 percent of the vote respectively for Position 7.
Both Walters and VanGelder have been associated with a pro-Second Amendment movement within Clark County, led by activists like Walters and Patriot Prayer founder Joey Gibson in opposition to last year’s Initiative 1639, which imposed greater restrictions on buying and storing firearms in Washington State.
Following the win Walters said outside of excitement she did have some uneasiness given the rapport she’s had with sitting councilors given the election campaign. She has, at times, been at odds with councilors including Johnson who had filed a Public Disclosure Commission complaint on Walters which has since been resolved.
Walters said since the win she has reached out to Johnson and Battle Ground Mayor Mike Dalesandro as a way to mend outstanding animosity. She thanked her supporters who helped put her on the top in the race.
“I appreciate them for having an open mind and not listening to the noise,” Walters remarked.
Another Battle Ground race saw Shane Bowman headed to retain his seat with about 86.4 percent of the vote as of the Friday count. Though he had no official challengers Bowman had about 13.9 percent of write-in votes against him retaining Position 2 on council.
La Center
In La Center, city council incumbents had strong leads as of the Friday count of ballots. Mayor Greg Thornton looked poised to retain his seat with about 77.9 percent of the vote against challenger Brittney Tracy’s roughly 21 percent, while Position 5 incumbent Elizabeth Cerveny had 66.5 percent over her opponent, Linda Tracy, who had about 32.9 percent.
La Center also had an uncontested city council race with Position 4 incumbent Tom Strobehn gaining all but eight of the votes cast as of Friday’s count.
Ridgefield
Ridgefield City Council was always slated to see at least one new face next year, though after the Friday count there will be two new on council if leads hold. For Position 2 Dana Ziemer had a lead of about 59.1 percent over fellow challenger Matt Swindell and his roughly 40.6 percent. Ziemer will replace outgoing councilor David Taylor.
As of the Friday count challenger Rob Aichele was set to unseat councilor Darren Wertz who has been the Position 5 councilor since his election in 2007. Aichele had close to 54.6 percent of the vote Tuesday night compared to Wertz’ roughly 45 percent.
Aichele, a first-time candidate, wasn’t quite sure if the first count’s lead would hold where he had close to 57.1 percent of the vote. It wasn’t until subsequent tallies that his victory started to set in.
In preparation to take on as councilor Aichele said he’s already well-prepared, noting that in his attempt to be appointed to the seat ultimately taken by councilor Jennifer Lindsay last year he had studied up on city issues.
Aichele credits his success to going after his votes, touching base with citizens either by knocking on more than 2,600 doors and maintaining a presence on social media.
“This is probably one of the hardest things that I have done,” Aichele remarked about the election race. He said the addition of him and Ziemer would provide fresh sets of eyes for council.
“We’re very energetic and motivated to do the best we can for the city,” Aichele said.
The one Ridgefield incumbent likely to beat their opponent was Position 7 councilor Sandra Day, who had about 79 percent of the vote on challenger Ronald Rowan’s about 20.6 percent.
Two incumbents on Ridgefield City Council are also likely to continue, as both Position 3 councilor Lee Wells and Position 6’s Jennifer Lindsay each had more than 97 percent of the vote on write-in candidates.
For the Port of Ridgefield race District 2 incumbent Scott Hughes looks likely to survive his first formal challenge since a 2009 election for the seat. As of the Friday count Hughes had close to 60.27percent of the vote over challenger David Kelly and his roughly 38.9 percent.
Woodland
In Woodland one city council race was within only a handful of votes for the first two rounds of counts, though by Thursday night Position 4 Council Candidate DeeAnna Holland had come out ahead. As of Friday’s count Holland had 665 votes to candidate Scott Peabody’s 556, putting her ahead with more than 54.5 percent of the vote.
During the Tuesday night count Peabody was ahead by two votes while on Wednesday Holland gained a lead of four. She recalls her phone “blowing up” with notifications during Thursday night’s dinner when she realized she had the election won.
“I think it’s cool … that that many people cast their vote for me because they think I’m going to do a good job,” Holland remarked. She said she won’t have too much trouble acclimating to council procedures, noting she’s been a regular at their meetings for years.
“Woodlanders are resourceful and we’re resilient, and we have a lot of work ahead of us,” Holland said, “but I think as a community we can make things happen.”
The other contested race on Woodland council was more decisive as of Friday’s count. For Position 4 incumbent Karl Chapman led with 56.4 percent of the vote over challenger Keith Bellisle and his 42.4 percent.
Races for Woodland mayor and city council Position 7 were uncontested, with incumbent mayor Will Finn and council candidate Monte Smith having leads greater than 93 percent over write-in candidates as of Friday’s count.
Another close ballot measure looks like a close defeat of a property tax levy for increased police funding. As of last week the police levy, which would increase the city property tax by about 63 cents per $1,000 assessed property value, had 680 votes for the measure to 685 against, giving a narrow “no” vote lead. According to the Secretary of State local measures do not have a mandatory recount which would be the case if it were a candidate race given the slim margin.
The only North County school district with a competitive race was Woodland Public School’s District 4 election. Incumbent Matt Donald did not seek to run, with Tammy Graham getting close to 69 percent of the vote over Doug Uno’s close to 30 percent.
Yacolt
Yacolt is poised to see a new mayor in 2020 though the likely winner isn’t a stranger to council. As of Friday’s count Katelyn Listek had 57.8 percent of the voter over incumbent Vince Myers’ 41.2 percent, making her return to the council chambers likely. Listek previously served as a council from 2016 to 2017.
The other race in Yacolt with formal candidates facing off had challenger Marina Viray unseating incumbent Rhonda Rowe-Tice. Viray got about 74.5 percent of the vote to Rowe-Tice’s roughly 22.4 percent.
Though ostensibly running opposed those seeking two seats on council had some competition in the form of write-in candidates, with Position 1 incumbent Amy Boget only gaining 80.8 percent of the vote for her re-election, and newcomer Michelle Dawson receiving 74.6 percent of the vote. Incumbent faced less of a write-in challenge as he received more than 94 percent of the vote for his Position 4 seat.
Clark County Council
The largest North County election has an incumbent appointed earlier this year poised to hang onto the District 4 seat. As of Friday’s count Republican Gary Medvigy led with more than 61.6 percent of the vote over current Battle Ground City Councilor Adrian Cortes, a Democrat with 38.1 percent of the vote.
Medvigy said that although he was nervous before results dropped seeing him come out ahead was rewarding, not only to him but the volunteers he was surrounded by Tuesday night.
“I think it’s a report card on how I have been doing on the council so far,” Medvigy said. He felt his track record in the roughly nine months he’s been a part of council allowed him to come out ahead, having been appointed to fill the vacant District 4 seat left open by now-chair Eileen Quiring’s leaving the seat earlier this year.
“I think the voters have been paying attention,” Medvigy remarked, saying since the August primary election which due to state law involved he and Cortes appearing on the ballot he was able to win over independent voters as evidenced by his wider margin of victory in November.
Statewide measures
On Referendum 88, which would approve an initiative overturning a ban on affirmative action, Clark County had about 45.2 percent of voters in favor with roughly 54.8 percent opposed. Statewide the referendum also looked defeated with close to 49.6 percent in favor and about 50.4 percent opposed.
On Initiative 976, which among other changes to automotive taxing would keep car tabs at $30, about 60.8 percent of Clark County voters approved the measure with about 39.2 percent opposed. Statewide the initiative was passing by slimmer margins at about 53.2 percent in favor and roughly 46.8 percent opposed.
