Clark County voters are placing their trust in Republicans, though first results show them narrowly favoring Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump.
Clinton had 3,400 more votes than Trump, but Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee wasn’t as popular with local voters as Republican Bill Bryant.
In Vancouver, voters were favoring Proposition 1, which would increase property taxes in order to generate $6 million annually for seven years to create a fund to support housing and related services for people with very low incomes.
Republicans John Blom and Eileen Quiring led races for Clark County council, though Blom’s lead over Democrat Tanisha Harris was less than 200 votes. The winner represents the eastern portion of Vancouver. Quiring took a big lead over Democrat Roman Battan in her north Clark County district, considered the county’s most conservative.
In the 3rd Congressional District race, incumbent Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Camas, will apparently win a fourth two-year term. She defeated Democratic state Rep. Jim Moeller, D-Vancouver, who challenged not only Herrera Beutler but the notion that the congressional district is a safe seat for conservatives.
In legislative races, Democratic former state Rep. Monica Stonier appears to be on her way back to Olympia, this time to represent the 49th Legislative District. She was leading Vancouver City Councilor Alishia Topper for a House seat by nearly 10 percentage points.
In the 17th Legislative District, Republican Rep. Lynda Wilson took the early lead over Democrat Tim Probst in a Senate race that had been expected to be close. Wilson had almost 54 percent of tonight’s votes after winning the primary by approximately 50 votes. In the race for Wilson’s House seat, Republican activist Vicki Kraft was outpolling Democrat Sam Kim, a county IT manager and former Battle Ground school board member, by just more than 1 percentage point.
Incumbents appeared to be headed to re-election in other local legislative races.
Battle Ground School District voters appeared to be turning down $80 million worth of construction bonds to fund new school facilities in the rapidly growing district. The bond proposal will need a 60 percent supermajority to pass, but thus far has only 53 percent approval.
In a rematch from the 2010 campaign for Clark Public Utilities commissioner, 24-year incumbent Nancy Barnes handily led Mike Lyons, a retired fire captain. Lyons came within 1 percentage point of defeating her last time they ran, but the margin tonight is nearly 30 points.
Nearly 155,000 votes were tallied in tonight’s count, a turnout of 56.69 percent. The next total is due to be released late Wednesday afternoon, and will be posted on www.columbian.com shortly after it is received. Auditor Greg Kinsey says there an estimated 65,000-70,000 ballots left uncounted. To count, a mailed ballot needs only to be postmarked on or before Election Day.
Elections officials issued 272,553 ballots this year. In the last presidential election in 2012, 79.6 percent of Clark County voters returned valid ballots.
The election results are due to be certified on Nov. 29.
