Washington primary to winnow candidates in dozens of races

Ballots must be either postmarked or dropped off at a local drop box by Tuesday. Ballots are due Tuesday, Aug. 2. Hand-delivered ballots go into drop boxes inside or behind the Jefferson County Courthouse, located at 1820 Jefferson St.in Port Townsend (office hours are 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.) or at the Jefferson County Library, 620 Cedar Ave., Port Hadlock.

All ballots must be returned or postmarked (first-class postage) by 8 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 2.

With Douglas County yet to report results, Inslee led with 49 percent of the vote.

Murray is facing 16 challengers to her Senate seat, including Republican candidate Chris Vance.

Ballot return for the August 2 primary election reached 13 percent as of Tuesday morning, July 26, according to the Jefferson County Auditor’s Office.

The two candidates that have raised the most money – Sens. The latest results still had Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee with 49 percent of the vote and Republican Bill Bryant at 38 percent. At the federal level, voters will determine the general election match-up for 10 congressional races, as well as the U.S. Senate seat held by incumbent Democrat Patty Murray. “We are going to keep building a stronger economy and better future for every Washington family”. Jayapal, with 38 percent of the vote, advanced to the November ballot, and Walkinshaw and Joe McDermott were fighting for the second slot, with each receiving about 21 percent.

Washington state’s nine other incumbent USA representatives all easily advanced in their primary contests. The top two vote getters in each race advance to the November election, regardless of party.

Completed vote-by-mail ballots must be placed in the official return envelope provided, and the voter must sign the certificate on the back of the envelope in order for the ballot to be counted. The secretary of state’s office has predicted that voter turnout for the primary will be at about 41 percent. The open seat for lieutenant governor has also drawn 11 candidates, including three Democratic state senators.

Only 281,278 people – including 178,915 Republicans and 89,534 Democrats – participated in early voting, which ended Saturday, for Thursday’s primary. Republicans now control the Senate and Democrats control the House, both by narrow margins. Four other open statewide seats – auditor, lands commissioner, treasurer and superintendent of public instruction – have also drawn several candidates. The treasurer’s race showed two Republicans – Duane Davidson and Michael Waite – leading, with 25 and 24 percent, respectively. The current primary system skirts the “right of association” issue by not being a nominating system for the parties, but rather, allowing the top two candidates of any party – even if they are of the same party – to advance to the general election. Same party opponents have previously emerged in legislative and congressional races, but never in statewide races.

Five of Washington’s nine statewide offices are open seats this year, meaning the incumbent isn’t running for re-election.

“I’m honored to have the support of so many Washingtonians tonight”, Inslee said in a statement. “When you have incumbents, it tends to dampen the competition”. Also, voters don’t have to declare a party affiliation and can choose among all candidates on one, consolidated ballot.

Justices Mary Yu and Charlie Wiggins each have just one challenger so they won’t appear on the ballot until the general election, along with the top two advancers from Madsen’s race. None of the races in Asotin, Garfield and Whitman counties have more than two candidates, though, so they’ll automatically move on to the general election. Madsen advanced Tuesday night with 64 percent of the vote, as did Kittitas County Prosecutor Greg Zempel, with 29 percent of the vote.