These are the leaders in Bellingham, Whatcom County election races and initiatives
Councilman Barry Buchanan was leading Kamal Bhachu for the Whatcom County Council at-large seat in early ballot returns Tuesday night, Nov. 2, a race that could have shifted the countywide balance of power on the non-partisan council.
If Buchanan’s lead holds, the council will retain its current 4-3 mostly liberal majority.
“I’d like to see what happens tomorrow,” Buchanan told The Bellingham Herald on Tuesday night. “But this is probably my biggest election night lead.”
Bhachu told The Herald that he’s staying upbeat and will be watching the next round of results late Wednesday afternoon, Nov. 3.
“We should wait until later today,” he said.
In another closely watched race, voters appeared split over four ballot initiatives in Bellingham.
Measures 1 and 4, expanding renter protections and hazard pay for workers were failing, but measures 2 and 3, setting limits on police technology and offering protection for union activism were leading.
“I’m happy about 2 and 3. I‘m a little surprised by Initiative 1 since 54% of Bellingham rents,” said Sage Jones, a volunteer with People First Bellingham, a coalition of Bellingham groups that worked to get the four initiatives on the ballot.
“If we can get at least two wins, that’s a win. I’m hoping that City Council is open to working on the issue like they said they were,” Jones told The Herald.
“I’m hoping that all the businesses and nonprofits that said that this started a conversation (about scheduled and hazard pay) will follow through. That’s a conversation that won’t go away,” Jones said.
Whatcom County Councilman Todd Donovan said it was a “status quo election,” with incumbents winning.
Donovan’s primary opponent dropped out of the race and he faced a write-in challenger who got barely 10% of the vote.
“It’s really hard” to win a write-in campaign. “It’s an uphill thing,” Donovan told The Herald.
And Bellingham will have two Black members on its City Council for the first time.
Russ Whidbee was leading Kristina Michele Martens for the two-year council at-large seat being vacated by Councilwoman Hollie Huthman and Skip Williams was unopposed for the Ward 4 seat being vacated by Councilwoman Pinky Vargas.
Huthman was unopposed for the four-year Ward 2 seat vacated by Councilman Gene Knutson.
Polls closed at 8 p.m., meaning ballots had to be placed in drop boxes or postmarked — not just mailed — by that time.
Ballots arriving in the mail Wednesday, Nov. 3, and later will be counted, as long as their postmark is valid.
An updated ballot count was scheduled for around 5 p.m. Wednesday.
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Whatcom County Council
▪ Kaylee Galloway was leading Eddie Ury by 57% to 41% for the District 1 seat being vacated by two-term Councilman Rud Browne. District 1 covers the southern half of Bellingham.
▪ Donovan was leading write-in candidate Nancy Hill by 76% to 10% for the District 2 seat. District 2 covers the north part of Bellingham. Kelley O’Connor withdrew from the race too late to have her name taken off the ballot but she received 14.5% of the vote.
▪ Councilman Tyler Byrd was leading Rebecca Lewis by 53% to 47% for the 3rd District seat covering rural Whatcom County mostly northeast, east and south of Bellingham.
Lewis told The Herald that she’s waiting for Wednesday’s ballot count to be released.
“We always knew this is going to be a close race,” she said. “We are currently down, but we’re going to wait for these next few days for the more balance to come in and to be counted.”
▪ Buchanan was leading Bhachu by 54% to 46% for the countywide at-large position A seat.
.jpeg "Russ Whidbee, Bellingham at large (1_fitted (1).jpeg")
Bellingham City Council
▪ Councilman Michael Lilliquist was leading Eve Smason-Marcus by 68% to 31% for the Ward 6 seat.
▪ Russ Whidbee was leading Kristina Michele Martens by 51% to 48% for the two-year council at-large seat.
▪ Councilwoman Hollie Huthman was unopposed for the Ward 2 seat and received 98% of the vote.
▪ Skip Williams was unopposed for the Ward 4 seat and received 99% of the vote.
Voters citywide could vote in all Bellingham council races.
Bellingham initiatives
Measures brought forward by a coalition of local groups called People First Bellingham were seeking renter protections, limits on police technology, neutrality on labor issues from city contractors and hazard pay and other rights for hourly wage workers.
▪ Initiative 1 for renter protections was failing by 55% to 45%.
▪ Initiative 2 for limits on police technology was leading by 52% to 48%.
▪ Initiative 3 for neutrality on labor issues from city contractors was leading by 59% to 41%.
▪ Initiative 4 for hazard pay and other rights for hourly wage workers was failing by 61% to 39%.
Port of Bellingham
▪ Port Commissioner Michael Sheppard was leading John Huntley for the District 1 seat by 55% to 45%.
▪ Port Commissioner Ken Bell was leading Kelly Krieger for the District 2 seat by 55% to 44%.
Bellingham schools
Bellingham Public Schools Director Jenn Mason was leading challenger Philip Stockton by 74% to 26% in a race that challenged the idea that school board races are routine.
Mason, a former educator and trauma counselor, owns Wink Wink, a “woman-owned all ages not creepy sex shop” in downtown Bellingham. She was backed by Democrats and raised $8,055 for her re-election bid, according to the state Public Disclosure Commission.
Stockton is a graduate of Liberty University, a conservative Christian school founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell. He has worked for Republican Party causes and is endorsed by the Whatcom Republicans. He raised $6,136 for his election bid.
Election day voting
Low early turnout appeared to carry over into the race’s final hours.
On Election Day, voters can go to the courthouse and cast their ballots at voting booths, allowing an in-person voting experience.
But only one person was voting in the single booth Tuesday morning, and there was no line to cast a ballot.
And the only people using the ballot drop box in the courthouse rotunda told The Bellingham Herald that they worked in the building.
In contrast, several hundred people voted in person during the 2020 presidential race.
Whatcom County had 157,034 registered voters through 5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 2, but only 56,786 ballots had been returned and accepted by then, a turnout rate of 36%, according to the state Secretary of State’s Office.
Tuesday was the biggest ballot-return day of the state’s three-week election cycle, with 14,109 total ballots returned on that date in Whatcom County, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.
Some 62% of Whatcom County voters age 65 and older had returned their ballots by Monday, against 13% of voters age 18-24.
Statewide, voter turnout was running at 26%.
Whatcom County turnout in the Aug. 3 primary was 34%, but it was 88% for the 2020 general election.
Last-minute discord
Discord flared over the weekend in a few races.
Hill, who is running a write-in campaign for the Whatcom County Council District 2 seat, shared a Facebook post that appeared to imply that she had the support of County Executive Satpal Sidhu.
Sidhu, a Democrat, used Facebook to criticize the Republican-backed Hill’s use of his photo. He has endorsed her opponent, Donovan.
Hill is on unpaid leave from her job as a nurse at St. Joseph hospital because she refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and has been critical of Whatcom County’s support for vaccination, masking and social distancing to ease the pandemic.
In the race for the County Council’s at-large seat, vandals apparently defaced Bhachu’s signs recently with red stickers reading “Beware! He is a Trumpster.”
GOP-backed Bhachu, who is also on unpaid leave from St. Joseph, shares Hill’s views on the pandemic response.
His opponent Buchanan denounced the vandalism in a post on Bhachu’s campaign page on Facebook.
This story was originally published November 2, 2021 at 8:49 PM.
