Jarman, Hughes have narrow, 100 -pt.  leads

By Margie Doyle

San Juan County voters appear to be split down the middle when it comes to their Orcas and San Juan Island representatives on the County Council.

On Lopez Island, incumbent Jamie Stephens holds a healthy margin of 57.21 percent of the vote over challenger Brian McClerren’s 42.79 percent of the vote.

Also on Lopez the School District’s General Obligation Bond proposition appears to have failed with 59.54 percent of the voters rejecting it and 40.46 percent of the voters approving it.

On Orcas Island, Lisa Byers and Rick Hughes are running the tightest race with 100 votes separating them: Hughes, a current Council member, leads with 50.9 percent of the vote; Byers has 49.1 percent.

San Juan Island’s residency council position has a similarly close  race, with incumbent Bob Jarman gaining 51.02 percent of the vote to former Councilwoman Lovel Pratt’s 48.98 percent. Jarman’s lead is 113 votes.

These numbers are maintained after 5,818 votes have been counted. There remain an estimated 1,300 ballots to count. The next count will be announced tomorrow, April 24 at 5 p.m.

With 11,952 voters in San Juan County, voter turnout for this election comes to 48.68 percent.

For more information, go to vote.wa.gov/results/current/sanjuan

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