Close races in Lewis County remain in favor of those who were holding even slight leads on Tuesday night, according to updated unofficial results released Friday afternoon.
The Lewis County Auditors office on Friday counted more than 7,000 votes that arrived shortly before the 8 p.m. Tuesday deadline, or had a Tuesday postmark. Although the election will not be certified until Nov. 27, county officials are expecting few additional ballots to arrive.
Challenger Ken Kostick appears to be the next Chehalis Port commissioner. He led by 140 votes - about 6 percent - on election night. Kostick now holds a slimmer lead, but is still ahead, with a 3 percent margin over the incumbent Judy DeVaul.
Morton City Council seats will likely be taken by Paulette Redick and Tony Sparozic, who respectively received six and 22 more votes than their opponents.
Write-in candidate Jim Wilson prevailed for the Mossyrock mayoral seat, still beating Jamie Fike with 85 to 54 votes. That race was separated by only six votes on Tuesday.
Former Vader Mayor Andy Wilsons dramatic bid for a city council seat looks to have failed to come to fruition, despite a last-ditch effort in entering the race and a vital correction Thursday to county officials who initially told him he missed a write-in candidate filing deadline and therefore was ineligible. The position seems almost certain to be filled by David Holland, who is outdoing Wilson by a vote of 59 to 41 percent, 115 to 81 votes.
Incumbents also are likely to be ousted in Morton, where Dan George leads Mayor Bob Worsham by 50 votes and about 13 percent; and in Onalaska, where Patrick Roden is ahead of Tom Blair for his school district seat - 882 to 512, a 26 percent margin.
In the Toledo City Council race, Bert Morey leads Brett Martin by 15 percent, 84 votes to 63. Debby Hughes looks to have been removed from her seat in the Bucoda Town Council by Paul Davis, who is ahead by a vote of 85 to 48 for a 27 percent margin. Likely usurped in Winlock is Dean Whorton, who trails in the bid to reclaim his school district seat to Scott Weinert by a vote of 577 to 486.
City council races also were close in Winlock, but the gap widened in Fridays results. The two contested seats appear won by Ron Heikkila and Ann Rubert, who lead by 33 and 36 votes respectively.
