As usual at this moment the Democratic Party is sweeping the primaries with better turnout than Independent or Republican candidates. However, in the multi-county race for State Representative, Independent candidate Marcia Kelbon is heading to a run off with Kaylee Kuehn.
Even though ballots are mailed directly to the home only 31% of the population that could vote did in Jefferson County.If I were the Democrats I’d be asking why they can’t turn people out to vote.
US Representative Emily Randall easily defeated all other candidates. This bodes ill for saving Protection Island and Dungeness Spit. Randall got 6400 votes as of this moment.
State representative Adam Bernbaum also managed to crush all opposition with 76% of the votes counted.
The more interesting race for state Representative position two so far appears to be going to Kaylee Kuehn with independent candidate Marsha Kelbon scoring an impressive 36% of the vote. Mrs. Kelbon in an interview with this reporter, stated that she is not in favor of giving away Protection Island or Dungeness Spit. Her moderate stance on many issues led her to break away from the Republican Party and this blog is supporting her candidacy as an independent. Our feeling is that with a moderate Republican representing this district it will force the Democrats into more of a negotiating position on many issues. The Democratic Party has become too lopsided in Olympia and the results of their dominance are not impressive at all. Social services have been cut including support for foster care, education is still not in even the top 10% of the United States, and the massive budget cutbacks by the governor are not what many voters expected from Ferguson when he ran.
In Jefferson County, Anji Scalf defeated Jean Ball, and will face Republican Stephen Nieman .
Another surprise is that Independent candidate for County Commissioner Jake Seegers is currently leading Democrat Mike French. There has been a concerted efforts to discredit French in the Clallam blogs and it appears to have been successful.
Thank you to those who have actually filled out a ballot and please talk to your friends and ask them whether they did as well and if they didn’t, why didn’t they. There are so many important issues facing us right now, and we should be seeing more turnout rather than less. Ultimately I think the turnout is because their really is not a lot of choice. Our two party system is so skewed that people that don’t buy into their platforms simply feel left out. That’s one reason we have decided to support Marsha Kelbon as an outsider, who we may not totally agree with, but will bring a fresh perspective to Olympia. It is worth saying that we do support Adam Bernbaum. As a junior member of the state legislature he has done a good job of listening.