The first returns of the 2021 General Election have given an indication of which candidates are likely to be elected to the three open Yakima City Council seats on this year’s ballot.
The Yakima County Auditor’s office conducts only one count of ballots on election night and, consequently, issues just one set of returns. The election night count usually represents about 20% of the ballots that have been returned to the Auditor’s office prior to Election Day. Yakima County uses an all-mail-in voting system, so ballots that are postmarked before midnight on November 2nd will still be considered valid for the General Election.
In the race in Yakima City Council District 2, Danny Herrera has 62.18% of the vote compared to the 37.82% that has gone to Edgar Hernandez.
In District 4, Janice Deccio leads Mark Shervey 59.59% to 40.41%.
The race for the District 6 seat shows Lisa Wallace with 50.54% of the General Election vote. Matt Brown trails Wallace with 49.46% of the vote.
Three ballot measures from the City of Yakima also appeared on this year’s General Election ballot.
City of Yakima Proposition 1, which would establish attendance requirements for Council members, is passing 84.59% to 15.41%. City of Yakima Proposition 2, which amends various sections of the City Charter, is passing 59.91% to 40.09%. And, City of Yakima Proposition 3, which would prohibit the Yakima City Council from imposing an income tax, is passing 78.31% to 21.69%.
Additional ballot counts will be conducted over the next few days. Ballot counts will continue periodically until all of the ballots that were received before the midnight November 2nd deadline have been tabulated. The 2021 General Election will be certified on November 23rd.