Voters turned out in record numbers for Tuesday’s general election to vote on local legislative races and a fire levy, in addition to state offices and county and state ballot measures, as well as the next president.
Local voters cast their ballots in the Eighth Congressional District, as they were asked if they wanted to send Rep. Dave Reichert, a Republican, back for a third term or elect challenger Darcy Burner.
Returns posted Wednesday showed Reichert leading Burner, a Democrat, by 614 votes in the two-county (King and Pierce) district. Both campaigns expected it would take a few days before a winner could be declared. Two years ago, another close contest between them was won by Reichert.
There are five legislative races in the two districts that Covington and Maple Valley fall within – the 47th and the 5th.
In District 5, which includes Maple Valley, state Sen. Cheryl Pflug and Rep. Jay Rodne – both Republicans – were cruising to victory with wide margins from the initial wave of mail-in ballots. As of Wednesday morning, 96 percent of votes cast at the ballot box had been tallied. Both are Republican incumbents.
Pflug garnered 57.7 percent of the vote tallied by the end of the first round of ballot counts and held a 15 percent lead over her opponent, Democrat Phyllis Huster.
Rodne held off Democrat Jon Viebrock with 56.4 percent of the vote.
Rep. Glenn Anderson, a Republican, had a harder time fending off Democrat David Spring, who led early after the first wave of mail-in votes were counted. But as the next few rounds of ballots were counted, Anderson had a slim lead – less than a percentage point – having tallied 13,813 votes to Spring’s 13,503. That race was tight during the primary election in August, as well.
A pair of state lawmakers from Covington were also up for re-election, with Democrats Geoff Simpson and Pat Sullivan running to retain their positions in the House of Representatives representing the 47th District.
Sullivan had a large lead over Republican Tim Miller with 59 percent of the vote, with nearly 93 percent of the precincts reporting.
Simpson initially had a larger lead of more than 10 percentage points on his challenger, Republican Mark Hargrove, when the first round of mail-in votes were posted. His lead was slimmer in later returns, with just shy of 54 percent of the votes going to him.
Another item watched closely by Maple Valley residents was Proposition 1, a levy lid lift that would raise the taxing levels of Maple Valley Fire and Life Safety to the maximum allowed of $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. The measure failed when it was on the primary ballot. As of Wednesday morning, it was failing again with 51.7 percent of voters rejecting it.
On election day, voters were queuing up as early as 6 a.m. outside polling places such as Glacier Park Elementary School in Maple Valley
Rollie Kroger, poll inspector at the Glacier Park site, said people were eager to cast their ballots.
“We had probably 60 people in here in the first hour,” Kroger said. Polling places countywide opened at 7 a.m.
During the August primary, Kroger said, there were only 120 votes cast all day at Glacier Park. But by 1 p.m. on Tuesday, that number had easily tripled, and he expected the numbers to continue to rise throughout the day.
Aleck Warren of Maple Valley was among those eager to cast his vote.
“I’d like to see the right people get in office, and every vote counts,” Warren said. “There are some really big issues on the ballot. I wanted my voice to be heard.”
A number of voters told poll workers as they signed in that this was their first time voting, which seemed to be a common theme across the country.
Just after 1 p.m., 11 people waited in line to check in and vote at Glacier Park as Keith Chu of Maple Valley cast his ballot.
“It’s important. It’s to change the country,” Chu said. “People are looking for change. We need something positive for the country with everything that’s going on.”
Staff writer Kris Hill can be reached at (425) 432-1209 (extension 5054) and khill@reporternewspapers.com
