Brand now leads Grun in Hoquiam; most races retain leaders

The majority of races throughout the county maintained their leads following the Friday release of results by the Grays Harbor County Election office, although some close races remain tight.

In changes, Hoquiam City Council candidate Jamie Brand gained the lead over incumbent Greg Grun. Grun had led by 2 votes on Election night, but now trails by 4 votes. Brand holds a 49.85% lead over 48.65% for Grun. The remaining 1.5% are for write-in votes.

In Cosmopolis, the gap in a close race between Councilmember Miles Wenzel and challenger Jonathan Bennett increased. Additional ballots made the 3-vote gap on November 2 widen to 12 votes with Wenzel maintaining his lead.

The Montesano race featuring Holly Shuck and incumbent Ian Cope became closer, with the 21-vote difference becoming a 9-vote lead for Shuck to unseat the Councilmember. Shuck shows a 50.44% lead.

Ocean Shores races saw over 900 votes added, but no changes were shown in leaders. Noble, Scott, and Hartman still maintain their advantage in the race.

In a race for Taholah School Board, the write-in vote is beating Chrissy Winn for the seat. Winn, running unchallenged, holds 46.23% of the vote. Jacob James announced that he was running as a write-in for that race, although according to the Grays Harbor Auditor, the individual write-ins will not be separated and counted until later in the election process.

The joint resolution to form the Central Grays Harbor Fire Authority does not appear to be meeting the criteria for passage in either approval or total number of voters needed.

In the latest count of ballots, 59.73% of voters are in approval of the formation, below the 60% super majority needed. In addition, 4023 ballots have been counted in the race so far. Numbers tabulated by KXRO indicated that roughly 4,200 votes were needed overall to qualify under state law.

As of Friday, 15,312 votes have been counted, an increase of over 5,000 since Election Night. Thousands of ballots are outstanding at this point, according to officials.

This shows a 30.99% overall turnout.

The next ballot count is scheduled for Wednesday, November 10. 

The election will be certified on November 23, 2021.