Serving Franklin County, WA

Hart dominating Connell council race

Hebel, Hallman in dead heat for second place

CONNELL — Candidate Preston Hart has a commanding lead in the Aug. 1 primary election race for City Council Position No. 5. but it's a dead heat to see who will be the runner-up.

After the end of the first day of counting Tuesday, Hart had 108 votes, or 51.92%. His count exceeded the tally for the remaining two candidates, Patrice Hebel and Stephanie Hallman.

The women were tied for second with 48 votes each, or 23.08%.

Election officials said late-arriving ballots should break the tie before the election is certified Aug. 15.

Only the Top 2 candidates advance to the Nov. 7 general election.

The Franklin County Auditor's Office Election Department sent ballots to 1,184 registered voters in Connell. So, there are a potential 976 ballots that could still be counted.

An estimated 51 late-arriving ballots are already in-house and will be counted in the coming days.

So far, Connell voter turnout is only 17.65%, the Elections Department reported.

Author Bio

Roger Harnack, Publisher

Author photo

Roger Harnack is the owner/publisher of Free Press Publishing. Having grown up Benton City, Roger is an award-winning journalist, photographer, editor and publisher. He's one of only two editorial/commentary writers from Washington state to ever receive the international Golden Quill. Roger is dedicated to the preservation of local media, and the voice it retains for Eastern Washington.

 

Reader Comments(0)