Election update: Mistachkin’s lead grows in judicial race

This story was updated Nov. 8.

A third round of ballot counting took place Thursday afternoon. Here is an update on some of the closer local races around Grays Harbor.

Superior Court Judge

David Mistachkin added to his lead over Grays Harbor Superior Court Judge Ray Kahler in the ballot count released Thursday in the race for the seat Kahler was appointed to fill last year.

The results Wednesday night showed Mistachkin with a 567-vote lead,12,398 votes (51.17 percent) to Kahler’s 11,831.

“The late vote clearly favored me,” Mistachkin said. The first vote results on Tuesday night had Kahler leading by 20 votes.

County Clerk

After Thursday’s count, Kym Foster still leads Janice Louthan in the race for Grays Harbor County Clerk. Foster has 13,336 votes (51.51 percent) to 12,553 for Louthan.

County Auditor

Joe MacLean is still leading Chris Thomas after Thursday’s release of general election results in the race for Grays Harbor County Auditor. MacLean’s lead, which was 347 votes, is now 314 votes — 13,600 (50.58 percent) to Thomas’ 13,286.

State representative, 19th District.

Republican incumbent Jim Walsh of Aberdeen is still holding on to his narrow lead. Walsh has 25,201 votes (50.53 percent) to 24,673 for Democratic challenger Erin Frasier of Pe Ell. Those numbers do not include an updated vote count for Thursday from Pacific and Lewis counties, as the Secretary of State’s website did not have those counties’ updated results at the time this article was published. Walsh’s lead is likely to grown when Lewis County votes are tallied.