Dalton pulled ahead in mayoral race

Mayor Ruth Dalton pulled ahead in the race to keep her office in Grand Coulee. Dalton switched the advantage since last week, when challenger Chantel Crowe, the deputy city clerk was ahead by a few votes. Dalton now leads with 56% of the vote, 120-104.

Likewise, for Grand Coulee’s council member 2 seat, Andrew Dobson pulled ahead of Cameron Whitney 88- 79.

Cheryl Hoffman gained a 54% lead over Jeremiah Seekins in the race for Electric City’s Council Member 1 seat, 154-129.

Bradley Oliver holds an insurmountable 185-97 lead over Robbin Boyce for that city’s council seat 2, but it won’t count. Oliver confirmed this week that he is ineligible to hold the office because he has not yet lived in the city for one continuous year. He didn’t know that when he filed and it was too late to get his name off the ballot by the time he was notified.

He will resign after winning; the city council can appoint a qualified person to fill the seat.

Grant County’s election office will next count ballots on Nov. 14 at 5 p.m., but there are only 200 left out of nearly 16,000 across 81 precincts in the entire county. Voter turnout was just under 30 percent.

Karen Wapato has kept her lead over Buffy Nicholson 295-223 with 57% of the vote for the Grand Coulee Dam School District Director 2 position.

Brad Parish will keep his seat on the Hospital District 6 board, winning 807-329 with 70% of the vote over John Adkins.

Ronald Toulou Jr has 51.95% of the 133-121 vote over incumbent Merv Schmidt in the Coulee Dam Town Council election for Position 2.

Dennis Montes will be the next mayor of Nespelem, having gotten 60% of the vote over Ricky Gabriel, 15-7. There were three write-ins.

Both Okanogan and Douglas county election offices will count ballots again Nov. 12 at 6 p.m. Okanogan has about 236 left to count. Douglas has about 70.

County auditor offices must certify the election Nov. 25. The secretary of state certifies the final results Dec. 4.