EVERETT — Republican Mark Harmsworth increased his lead on Democrat Mike Wilson in their race for an open state House seat following a second day of ballot counting Wednesday.
Harmsworth, a Mill Creek city councilman, was ahead of Wilson, a Cascade High School teacher, by 1,198 votes, or 52.5 percent to 47.3 percent.
On election night, Harmsworth had a 768-vote advantage in the contest for the two-year term representing the 44th District which includes Mill Creek, Snohomish, Lake Stevens and parts of Everett and Marysville.
The winner will succeed Republican Mike Hope, who resigned in July.
“Obviously, the numbers are encouraging,” Harmsworth said. “It’s still a close race, but we’re moving in the right direction.”
A spokeswoman for the Wilson campaign said they are hopeful returns will break their way in the next couple of days.
Wednesday’s totals reflect the counting of 13,000 more ballots countywide. Snohomish County Auditor Carolyn Weikel said the next update is set for 5 p.m. Thursday.
The county has now received 210,673 of 418,330 ballots issued for this election, which equates to a turnout of 50.36 percent. Weikel said about 100,000 ballots are left to be counted, and she predicted it will be Friday before the largest chunk of them are tabulated.
Wednesday’s new totals didn’t change any local races.
However, on Initiative 1351, the statewide measure to reduce primary-school class sizes, most counted ballots were opposed. The opposite was true on election night. Statewide on Wednesday, it was too close to call.
There were 139 votes separating yes and no in Snohomish County. On Tuesday, 50.6 percent backed I-1351.
In other contests, Judy Tuohy maintained her strong lead on Everett City Councilman Richard Anderson in a duel for Position 7 on the council.
Tuohy had 57 percent of the vote, while Anderson, who was appointed to fill the vacancy created when Shannon Affholter resigned, had 42 percent.
The race is for a one-year unexpired term. If Tuohy holds on to win, she would have to run again in 2015 for a full term.
In Lynnwood, a measure establishing a transportation benefit district was still failing by a margin that grew slightly.
The latest results showed 51.7 percent of voters turning down the measure to hike the local sales tax by two-tenths of a penny. The money would pay for road improvements. There were 2,173 votes rejecting Proposition 1 and 2,027 votes to approve it.
The measure, which needs a simple majority to pass, would raise about $4 million a year for the next decade.
In the Arlington School District, a property tax rise to acquire new school buses was still trailing.
Nearly 54 percent were rejecting the two-year, $3 million levy. Wednesday’s tally showed there were 2,251 yes votes and 2,639 no votes, for a difference of 388 votes. The property tax measure would levy 49 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation for two years, the equivalent of $122.50 per year for a $250,000 house.
In Fire District 21, which serves the rural Arlington area, a levy to pay for 24-hour staffing and other service improvements was failing by a wide margin. After Wednesday’s county, only 43.3 percent backed the increase, which needs a simple majority to be pass.
Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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