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After two more ballot tallies, totals indicate La Conner School District Director John Agen is likely to continue on the board, moving over from his District 1 seat to taking the District 2 position. Voters are giving Agen 53% of the vote against former District 2 Director Janie Beasley after counts on Nov. 14 and 15, after the Weekly News went to press. Beasley has gained 29 votes, to 675, reducing Agen’s lead to 95 votes. His total is 770.
Another 144 school district votes were counted Monday and Tuesday. Elections office staff estimate 500 ballots remain uncounted. It is not known how many ballots remain to be counted for the La Conner school board District 2 director seat.
For La Conner School District 1 director, Alana Quintasket gained 118 votes in the two counts, for 1,150 votes. Kim Pedroza also picked up 118 votes; her total is 1,155. Both were uncontested. Another nine votes were counted in the elections for La Conner mayor and town council. The next mayor, Marna Hanneman gained two and has 279 votes; Annie Taylor has 277 votes for Position 1 and Mary Wohleb has 283 votes for Position 5.
Up to 130 ballots were tallied in Fire District 13. John Doyle now has 973 votes for Position 2 commissioner and Jeremy JJ Wilbur has 959 votes for Position 3 commissioner.
Loren Bogart gained 2 votes, to 83 in his election for Sewer District 1 commissioner Position 1. He is also unopposed.
This election’s voter turnout may be as high as 37% with over 31,600 ballots cast by the county's 85,826 registered voters.
The next vote report is scheduled by 5 p.m. Nov. 16. The county vote must be certified Nov. 28.
Below is the story printed in the Nov. 15 Weekly News print edition.
La Conner School District Director John Agen has grown his lead for the District 2 director position, increasing his margin to 124 over Janie Beasley in the eight days since the polls closed Nov. 7. Agen has 713 votes and leads with 54.5%, after being ahead by 68 votes election night and 120 votes Nov. 9. The Skagit County Elections Office reported its third ballot count Monday afternoon.
Agen gained four votes, 10 of the 16 cast. Beasley, a former District 2 director, has 45% of the vote, 589 in total. In Thursday’s count Agen gained 250 votes 52 more than Beasley’s 198. To date, 1,309 ballots have been counted. In 2019 Marlys Baker’s win over Beasley for this director’s position brought out over 1,700 voters.
Alana Quintasket picked up nine votes Monday, for 1,032 votes in her uncontested election for director in District 1 and Kim Pedroza has 1,037 votes, an increase of 12 since Thursday for the District 4 director. Each was appointed in early 2023.
Not many of the counted ballots came from the school district precincts. Marna Hanneman gained two votes, for 270 votes to be La Conner’s next mayor. Annie Taylor totaled one more vote, to 273 for the Position 1 town council seat. Mary Wohleb also gained a vote, to total 279 for the Position 5 council seat. The candidates ran unopposed.
Fire District 13 Commissioners John Doyle gained another 15 votes, to 859 and Jeremy JJ Wilbur picked up 13 for 845 votes in their uncontested elections. Both had been appointed to their positions.
Loren Bogart now has 81 votes in his election for Sewer District 1 commissioner Position 1, also unopposed.
Skagit County elections office staff tallied 2,373 ballots between Friday and 3:30 p.m. Monday, bringing the total counted to 24,808. Another 6,700 ballots remain, they estimate.
Of the 33,110 outstanding ballots statewide, Skagit County has far more remaining to be counted than any other county. Whatcom County estimates 250 remain, Snohomish County may have 500 and Island County lists 10. King County may have 3,000.
Turnout may reach 38% of the county’s 85,826 voters by the count’s finish. It is not known how many ballots remain to be counted for the La Conner school board District 2 director seat.
Updated totals were reported by 5 p.m. Tuesday, after the Weekly News went to press.
The county vote must be certified Nov. 28.
Authorities mum on fentanyl attack
Neither the FBI, the Washington state Secretary of State or Skagit County officials are providing any information since the Nov. 9 announcement confirming trace amounts of fentanyl was in an envelope opened by elections office staff at the county auditor’s office before noon that day.
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