Primary Election Certified

DAYTON–The August 2 Primary Election was a dress rehearsal for two Columbia County races and both are destined for the November 8 General Election.

Republican County Commissioner candidate Jack Miller ended up with a 48-vote lead ahead of incumbent Charles Amerein (R), and incumbent Sheriff Joe Helm (R), garnered 66.55% of the vote compared to Republican challenger Jeff Jenkins’s 32.76%, final results from the August 2 Primary Election showed.

Voter turnout in Columbia County was 54.7%, with 1,542 ballots out of 2,819 voters counted as of the election certification day August 16.

Miller received 284 votes and 54.41% compared to Amerein’s 236 votes and 45.21%, out of 522 total votes.

Sheriff Helm received 971 votes and 66.55% of the vote, and Jenkins received 478 votes and 32.76%. There were 1,459 votes cast for sheriff.

Columbia County voters favored U.S. Senate candidate Tiffany Smiley with 917 votes and 61.09%, compared to incumbent Democrat Patty Murray’s 382 votes and 25.45%. Statewide, Murray received 1,002,811 and 52.22% of the vote. Smiley will face Murray in the General, having received 646,917 votes, or 33.69%.

Republican Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers captured 69.35% of county votes with 1,018 votes. Democrat Natasha Hill received 206 votes, 14.03%. Across the Fifth District, incumbent McMorris Rodgers, received 106,072 votes and 51.46% of the vote, and will face Hill in November, who received 30.01%, or 61,851 votes.

District 9 Republican House of Representative incumbents, both unopposed, Mary Dye of Pomeroy and Joe Schmick of Colfax both received nearly 98%. Dye gathered 1,095 votes of 1,115 cast. Schmick got 998 votes out of 1,019 ballots, or 97.94%.

Unopposed county candidates included:

Assessor: Tammy Groom Ketterman, (R), 1,207 votes.

Auditor: Anne D. Higgins, (R), 1,093 votes.

Clerk: Kristin (Krissy) Chapman, (R), 1,191 votes.

Prosecutor: C. Dale Slack, (NP), 1,108 votes.

Treasurer: Carla J. Rowe, (R), 1,210 votes.

Brooklyn Precinct Committee Officer-Republican: Randy Schafer, 56; Lorrie R. Bensel, 50, deciding the position for Schafer.

Top vote getters in the Secretary of State in Columbia County were Bob Hagglund, Republican, 411 votes, 31.57%; and Keith L. Wagoner, Republican, 275 votes, 21.12%. Statewide, Democrat Steve Hobbs received 747,993 votes and 39.93%; and nonpartisan Julie Anderson, 240,035 votes and 12.81%, will meet in the General Election.