The initial results of the 2018 General Election indicate Yakima voters are saying a definitive “no” to the question of whether to build a downtown plaza on property currently being used as a parking lot.<\/p>\n
The first count of ballots released by the Yakima County Auditor’s office shows 69.69% of Yakima voters voting no on City of Yakima Advisory Vote #1 and 30.31% voting yes.<\/p>\n
The Yakima County Auditor\u2019s office conducts only one count of ballots on election night and, consequently, issues just one set of returns.\u00a0 Tonight\u2019s first count includes all ballots received through Monday.\u00a0 Of the 115,873 ballots issued, 25,971 have been returned so far.\u00a0 Ballot counts will continue periodically until all of the ballots that were received or postmarked before the midnight November 6th<\/sup> deadline have been tabulated.\u00a0 The 2018 General Election will be certified on November 27th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n In other races being decided by Yakima County voters:<\/p>\n Norm Childress (R) leads Susan Soto Palmer (D) in the race for the District 3 Yakima County Commissioner seat 64.18% to 35.67% currently held by Rand Elliot (R), who decided not to run again.<\/p>\n Bob Udell (R) has 61.44% of the vote and Nolan Wentz (R) has 37.46% in their race to become Yakima County Sheriff.\u00a0 Current Sheriff Brian Winter did not run again.<\/p>\n Jim Curtice (D) is leading incumbent Yakima County Coroner Jack Hawkins (GOP) 49.93% to 49.04%.<\/p>\n Tracy Slagle (R) is well on her way to replacing incumbent Yakima County Clerk Janelle Riddle (R).\u00a0 Slagle has 76.67% of the vote compared to Riddle’s 22.13%.<\/p>\n In their race to succeed retiring 14th<\/sup> District State Representative \u2013 Position 1 Norm Johnson (R), Chris Corry (R) is easily outdistancing his opponent Sasha Bentley (D) 64.31% to 35.59%.<\/p>\n Incumbent 14th<\/sup> District State Representative \u2013 Position 2 Gina Mosbrucker (R) looks poised to return to Olympia.\u00a0 Mosbrucker leads Liz Hallock (D) 65.95% to 33.88%.<\/p>\n Incumbent 15th<\/sup> District State Representative \u2013 Position 1 Bruce Chandler (R) leads Jack McIntire (D) 65.30% to 34.64%.<\/p>\n Jeremy Dufault (R) is far ahead of his opponent, A.J. Cooper (D) in the race to succeed incumbent 15th<\/sup> District State Representative \u2013 Position 2 David Taylor (R), who was ousted in the primary election.\u00a0 Dufault has received 66.66% of the vote while Cooper has received 33.20%.<\/p>\n Incumbent 15th<\/sup> District State Senator Jim Honeyford has received 66.27% of the vote while his opponent, Bengie Aguilar, has 33.63%.<\/p>\n In the 13th<\/sup> State Legislative District, which covers Kittitas County and Lincoln County as well as parts of Grant County and a small portion of Yakima County, incumbent 13th<\/sup> District State Representative \u2013 Position 1 Tom Dent (R) leads Jesse Hegstrom Oakey (D) 74.42% to 25.58% and incumbent 13th<\/sup> District State Representative \u2013 Position 2 Matt Manweller (R) leads Sylvia Hammond (D) 64.28% to 35.72%.<\/p>\n