The Yakima County Auditor’s office has released the third count of ballots from the 2017 General Election.
In Yakima City Council District 2, Jason White continues to maintain a significant lead over Pablo Gonzalez 71.55% (compared to 76.02% after the second count) to 28.45% (compared to 23.98% after the second count). After Tuesday’s night’s initial count, White had accumulated 81.62% of the vote.
Kay Funk’s lead over Keith Effler in District 4 shrunk a little as of the third ballot count. Funk has 59.52% of the vote (compared to 60.96% after the second count) compared to Effler’s 39.53% (compared to 37.97% after the second count).
In District 6, Brad Hill’s lead over Macaela Razo dipped slightly as of the third count. Hill now has 84.31% (compared to 85.46% after the second count) to Razo’s 15.41% (compared to 14.33% after the second count).
Proposition 1 is a non-binding advisory ballot measure asking if Yakima County should continue its ban on the production, processing, and retail sales of recreational marijuana in unincorporated areas of the County. After the third count of ballots, Proposition 1 has 58.99% Yes votes (compared to 59.74% after the second count) and 41.01% No votes (compared to 40.26% after the second count), which means a majority of voters have said the existing ban should remain in place.
The 2017 General Election also featured city council races in Yakima County’s 13 other cities and towns as well as mayoral races in Granger, Mabton, Wapato and Zillah. Seats on special purpose district boards, such as school districts, fire districts, and port districts, were also up for election. Yakima County Fire District #6 is also asking voters to approve a $1.00 per $1,000 of assessed value property tax levy to help pay for fire protection and emergency medical services.
Three statewide advisory votes were also on the ballot. To see the entire Yakima County general election ballot returns look on the County Auditor’s website at yakimacounty.us.
Of the 114,819 ballots issued in Yakima County, 31,839 (27.77%) have been counted so far.
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 7th deadline have been tabulated. The 2017 General Election will be certified on November 28th.