These are the leaders in key Bellingham, Whatcom primary election races Tuesday night
Two Black candidates likely will face each other for Bellingham City Council, as Kristina Michele Martens and Russ Whidbee were leading for the at-large position after initial primary results were released Tuesday night, Aug. 3.
Martens had 54% of the vote, followed by Whidbee at 33% and Tonia Boze at 13%.
That means Bellingham will have more than one person of color on the council for the first time in history, because Skip Williams, who is Black, is unopposed for City Council Ward 4.
Roxanne Murphy, a member of the Nooksack Tribe, was the first person of color on the council when she was elected to the at-large position in 2013.
Williams, a retired teacher, called it a “significant change.”
But he also said that people of color hold key leadership positions locally — including Western Washington University President Sabah Randhawa, Whatcom County Executive Satpal Sidhu, and Bellingham Police Chief Flo Simon.
“All of us have a sense of service to our community,” Williams told The Bellingham Herald. “That’s important for all of us to think about.”
Ballots were due by 8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 3, in Washington state’s vote-by-mail primary election, and results were released shortly after.
An updated ballot count is planned for about 5 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 4.
Only races with three or more candidates were on the ballot, and the two candidates with the most votes will advance to the Nov. 2 general election, under the state’s “top-two” primary system.
Whatcom County Council
▪ Kaylee Galloway and Eddy Ury were leading in a three-way race for Whatcom County District 1, which covers the city of Bellingham. Galloway had 56% of the vote, Ury had 26% and Jeremiah Ramsey was in third place with 18%.
▪ County Councilman Tyler Byrd and challenger Rebecca Lewis were leading among the four candidates running for Whatcom County Council District 3, which covers the eastern part of the county. Byrd was leading Lewis by 37 votes and had 44.4% of the vote. Lewis had 43.8%, followed by Fred Rinard and Kathy Sabel with 5.6% each.
▪ County Councilman Barry Buchanan and challenger Kamal Bhachu were leading for the at-large position, which was on the ballot for all county voters. Buchanan had 48% of the vote, followed by Bhachu at 37%, Flowers at 9% and Burr at 5%.
Port of Bellingham
Incumbent Ken Bell will face Kelly Krieger in the general election for Port of Bellingham commissioner for District 2. Bell had 47% of the vote and Krieger 35% on Tuesday night with only voters in the district casting ballots in the primary. Austin Chapin is in third place with 18% of the vote.
In the November general election, all registered Whatcom County voters can vote in this race for a four-year term representing the northeast portion of the county from part of Bellingham to Lynden, Sumas and the Mount Baker foothills on the three-person commission.
Whatcom voter turnout
Some 158,914 voters were registered in Whatcom County and 40,454 ballots had been returned through Tuesday. Of that number, 40,004 ballots had been accepted, according to data from the state Secretary of State’s Office.
That’s a turnout rate of 25.5%.
Statewide ballot return rate was 21.4% through Tuesday, and Whatcom County was 14th of 39 Washington counties in ballot return rate, according to data from the state Secretary of State’s Office.
More ballots were returned statewide on Tuesday — 169,972 — than on any day since ballots were mailed July 14.
Some 59% of ballots arrived by mail statewide, and 41% were placed in drop boxes.
On Tuesday, elections workers could be seen on live webcams as they sorted ballot envelopes.
As ballots are returned, Auditor’s Office staff verify ballot signatures and scan accepted ballots into a computer system at the County Courthouse that’s not connected to the internet.
Ballots were tallied for the first time after 8 p.m. Tuesday and the results were uploaded via thumb drive to the state Secretary of State’s Office.
Separate county computer systems that aren’t connected to the internet is one safety check against voter fraud.
This story was originally published August 3, 2021 at 8:34 PM.
