Klickitat County voters cast their ballots yesterday in the Washington State general election. There were few contested races among the 71 board, council and commission positions on the ballot in various parts of the county. As of last night, incumbent Goldendale City Council member Miland Walling had a comfortable lead over challenger Ashley Cooper with 290 votes to her 166. Former councilor Steve Johnston will return to the council in January with 268 votes. A write-in challenge drew only 118 votes. Councilors Loren Meagher and Ellie Casey were running unopposed, as was Kevin Feiock, who filed back in May, but resigned in June, saying he had been out of the state for several months “for domestic reasons,” and realized that he could not continue as a councilor under state law. It’s unclear at this time if that situation has been resolved.
In other contested races of local interest yesterday, it was Shane Wright over Becky Hess for position number five on the Bickleton School Board. In position number three for the White Salmon School Board, Pat Demplsey led Betty Gross, 613 to 493, and in position number five, Andy Meresse edged Peter Harkema, 548 to 528.
In the Lyle School Board, Barbara Mills had 265 votes to Garret Towie’s 242.
The tightest races of the day were for positions on the Trout Lake School Board. Joe Dean led Kathy Keller Jones by just 18 votes, 161 to 143 for position number 2 and Tony Fuentes had a 15-vote lead over Tim Deardon for position number five.
And it was an unusual turn of events for the Glenwood School Board position number one, as a write-in campaign drew 97 votes to the 61 of Bradley Gimlin.