Incumbents holding steady in election races

By Tara Nelson

As of 4 p.m. Wednesday, November 16, the Whatcom County auditor’s office had counted 46,474 ballots, Whatcom County auditor Shirley Forslof said. With an expected 60 percent voter turnout, Forslof said she anticipates an additional 15,000 ballots to be counted. Final election results will not be official until November 29 but individuals can check for daily updates at www.co.whatcom.wa.us.

Point Roberts Water District 4
Renee Cole has won the Point Roberts Water District 4 Commission’s Position 2 seat, with 214 votes (66%). Her opponent Snider Vick, received 110 votes (34%). For the commission’s Position 3 seat, Sue Johnson, who was running unopposed, received 254 votes out of 256 ballots.

Point Roberts Fire District 5
Susan Brownrigg, who was running unopposed for the Point Roberts Fire District 5 Commission, Position 1, received 255 votes. For the commission’s Position 2 seat, Bill Meursing received 259 votes, and for the commission’s Position 3 seat, David Gellatly received 266 votes.

Point Roberts Park and Recreation District 1
Shelley Damewood, who was running unopposed for the Point Roberts Park and Recreation District 1, Position 3 seat, received 275 votes. Fred De Haan, who was vying for the commission’s Position 4 seat, received 217 votes (72%). His opponent, Ted Mohr, received 85 votes (28%).

Point Roberts Public Hospital
District Commission
Margery Biery, who was running unopposed for the Point Roberts Public Hospital Commission’s Position 1 seat, received 267 votes.

Whatcom County Council
Whatcom County Council incumbents are leading slightly in unofficial election results. Two county council positions, however, are unusually tight.

Incumbents Laurie Caskey-Schreiber and Seth Fleetwood are both leading the race for their current seats on the Whatcom County Council.
Caskey-Schreiber had a solid lead over her opponent Craig Mayberry with 22,406 votes (54%) while Mayberry received 18,837 votes (46%). Caskey-Schreiber is a fourth-generation resident of Lynden and supported efforts to protect Lake Whatcom and rural agricultural land. Mayberry is an economics teacher at Whatcom Community College and a fiscal conservative.

The race between Carl Weimer and Mike Kent, both candidates for the council’s district three, position A, was also close. Weimer received 21,475 votes (52%) while Kent received 19,154 (47%). Weimer, the founder of Bellingham’s ReStore and a member of the Pipeline Safety Commission, said on Wednesday that he was keeping his fingers crossed. Kent is a realtor who lives in Blaine.

The closest race, however, was between Fleetwood, an environmental attorney who helped implement green standards for Whatcom County municipal buildings, and Gary Lysne, a retired Seattle police officer. Fleetwood led the race for the council’s at-large position with 20,515 votes (51%) while Lysne received 19,710 votes (49%).

Port of Bellingham
Incumbent Scott Walker has won the race for Port of Bellingham commissioner district one, with 23,353 votes (60%). His opponent, Tip Johnson, trailed behind with 15,320 votes (39%).

Blaine School District
All three candidates for Blaine School District’s board of directors were running unopposed this year. District one candidate Red Goodwin received 2,542 votes, while candidates for districts three and five, Pebble Griffin and Mike Dodd, received 2,509 and 2,599 votes, respectively.

Smoking ban passes; gas tax and malpractice initiatives fail
State initiative 901, which would ban smoking in public places is passing overwhelmingly in Whatcom County and in Washington state. The initiative amends the state’s Clean Indoor Air Act and prohibits smoking in public places as well as within 25 feet of an entrance to a public place. According to early election results posted on the Washington Secretary of State’s web site, 62 percent of Washington voters favored the ban while 37 percent were opposed.

Meanwhile, initiative 912, which would repeal the state’s recently imposed 5 cent increase to the state’s gas tax failed by a narrow margin. Approximately 47 percent of voters supported the tax rollback while 52 percent opposed it. If the initiative passes, revenue from the anticipated increases will not be available for state-funded transportation projects.
Initiative 330, sponsored by several insurance companies and the Washington State Medical Association, which seeks to cap the amount of non-economic, or punitive damages a person can claim in a medical malpractice lawsuit, is also failing. Whatcom County voters approved the initiative 49 to 47 percent, but state figures indicate the initiative is failing by about 90,000 votes or 45 to 54 percent.

A counter measure purported by the Association of Trial Lawyers that would require public notices for insurance rate increases also failed. Whatcom County voters opposed initiative 336, 54 to 41 percent while statewide voters rejected it 58 to 41 percent.

MS tax, district-only voting passes; removal of salary cap fails
Whatcom County voters approved two countywide initiatives that would authorize a sales tax to fund countywide emergency medical services and restrict Whatcom County voters’ ability to vote for county council candidates.

The EMS levy allows Whatcom county to use a one-tenth of one percent (.1 percent) sales tax, or 10 cents for every $100, to pay for costs associated with emergency medical services. It also allows one-third of the revenue to be used for criminal justice purposes such as building new jails.

Whatcom County charter amendment 1 would restrict Whatcom county residents from voting for county council members in districts other than their own. Proponents of the initiative, such as Charlie Crabtree a Whatcom County Charter Review Commission member, said the current system prevents certain candidates from winning in the primaries. Proponents say the initiative will bring elected officials closer to the constituents they represent.

Meanwhile, an amendment that would remove a provision in the Whatcom County Charter, which caps the salaries of Whatcom County council candidates, failed 17,155 to 6,295 with 68 percent of the votes opposed and 25 percent in favor.

Whatcom County voters also approved a measure that would require the county auditor to provide a voters’ pamphlet on all Whatcom county initiatives in the future.