Fire District No. 15 EMS levy passing; Douglas County Commissioner going down to defeat in updated election results

A replacement levy to pay for emergency medical services in Douglas Okanogan Fire District No. 15 is being approved by district voters, but a proposal to buy new fire trucks and build a second hall is failing in Douglas County Fire District No. 5. Challenger Dale Snyder is leading incumbent Douglas County Commissioner Dane Keane, while incumbent Okanogan County Commissioner Andrew Lampe has a comfortable lead over challenger Larry Campbell. Updated results from the Nov. 4 general election were released Friday, Nov. 7.

Because it's a revenue measure the EMS levy had to have yes votes from at least 60 percent of the voters to pass, and it has 591 yes votes and 369 no votes for 61.56 percent approval. (This vote was in the fire district only; voters in Brewster and Pateros approved the proposal in the August primary.) It's passing easily in Okanogan County, 475 yes votes to 241 no votes, 64.89 percent voting yes. But it's just barely ahead in Douglas County, with 116 yes votes to 112 no votes. The six-year levy will replace the levy approved by voters in 2002 and will pay for the district's ambulance services and EMS personnel.

Voters in Douglas County Fire District No 5, however, apparently have rejected a $540,000 equipment and construction bond that would have paid for three new trucks and built an auxiliary fire station about 10 to 15 miles west of Mansfield. It too was a revenue measure and required 60 percent to pass but it's being narrowly rejected outright, with 139 no votes to 135 yes votes.

Keane was running for his third term as commissioner, but he's trailing challenger Dale Snyder; Snyder has 6,004 votes, 56.98 percent, to 4,583 (43.02 percent) for Keane. Both men are Republicans. Incumbent commissioner Ken Stanton, also a Republican,was running unopposed and has 8,834 votes.

In Okanogan County, Lampe has 6,051 votes to 4,764 for Campbell; that's 58.15 percent of the vote for Lampe to 43.42 percent for Campbell. Lampe is running for his second term. Both are Republicans. One term incumbent Don "Bud" Hover, a Republican, was running unopposed and received 8,940 votes.

Fire District No. 15 also was asking voters to approve expansion of the governing body from three to five commissioners. That's passing easily, with 542 yes voters (58.27 percent) to 388 no votes (41.72 percent). It needed a simple majority to pass. It's being approved in Douglas County, 135 yes votes to 91 no votes, and it has 407 yes votes and 297 no votes in Okanogan County.

Incumbent State Representative Mike Armstrong, Wenatchee, has a comfortable lead over challenger Courtney Cox of Chelan in the race for one of two seats in the 12th District. District-wide, Armstrong has 25,640 votes (56.28 percent) to 19,922 for Cox (43.72 percent). Both are Republicans. Armstrong received 6,261 votes in Douglas County to 4,507 votes for Cox; in Okanogan County he has 2,367 votes to 2,108 for Cox. The southern third of Okanogan County, including Brewster and Pateros as well as the upper Methow River Valley, are in the 12th District.

Incumbent Republican state Senator Linda Evans Parlette ran unopposed for the 12th District Seat; district-wide, she has 40,311 votes, including 9,454 in Douglas County and 3,962 in Okanogan County. Cary Condotta holds the district's second seat in the House of Representatives and ran unopposed for reelection. Condotta received 37,198 votes district-wide, with 8,883 votes in Douglas County and 3,616 in Okanogan County. Condotta is a Republican.

Cathy McMorris Rodgers easily won reelection to the U. S. House of Representatives from Washington's 5th Congressional District. McMorris Rodgers, a Republican, received 193,573 votes district-wide to 104,020 votes for Democratic challenger Mark Mays. In Okanogan County, McMorris Rodgers received 8,731 votes to 4,413 votes for Mays.

Incumbent Richard "Doc" Hastings, a Republican, has a big lead over Democratic challenger George Fearing in the race for the Fourth U. S. Congressional District. Hastings, a Republican, has 159,151 votes district-wide to 93,430 for Fearing. In Douglas County, Hastings received 7,861 votes to 3,698 for Fearing.