Joe MacLean is leading Chris Thomas after Tuesday’s first release of general election results in the race for Grays Harbor County Auditor. MacLean’s lead is less than 300 votes, 10,506 to Thomas’ 10,234.
“There’s been nerves building up to this point and to actually see it (the results) is kind of unreal,” MacLean said. “It’s been a long campaign. It’s been good. It’s not usual to see (a change at this point). But there’s potential.” MacLean had 50.66 percent of the initial vote.
“Thanks to everybody who’s voted for me. I appreciate it,” he added.
He said that he has not made a decision about whether he will step down as leader of the county Republicans.
Thomas is hoping that, with about 3,000 ballots left to count, that there will be a change. The next count is due at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.
“I’m behind,” he said. “Tomorrow, it may change. I’ve been doing this long enough to not be too surprised by unexpected turns. You never know. We’ll see how the dust settles.”
“I’ve received a lot of great support from great people,” he added.
“I’m really proud of my staff here in the Auditor’s Office,” Thomas said. “Things have been incredibly busy and hectic, and they’ve been doing a great job.”
Republican MacLean, who is an election specialist with the state Secretary of State’s Office, got a plurality of votes in the primary election. Of the 17,026 votes cast, MacLean received 7,158. Of his two Democratic challengers, Thomas received 4,518 votes and Jasmine Dickhoff got 4,508 votes.
A late mistake by an Auditor’s Office worker, may have had some effect on the election, but it was discovered with just days before the vote.
Between 3 and 4 p.m. Oct. 26, the keys to the Elma ballot drop box were left unattended in the lock for an unknown amount of time. What’s known is that a member of a Fire District 5 crew saw the keys and pulled them from the box. They were given to the Elma Police the next morning, before being returned to the Auditor’s Office the following Monday.
MacLean made election security a top priority for his campaign; he touted his certification and experience and point to Thomas’ lack of experience with elections. A post on a Facebook page backing MacLean was among the first mentions of the accident on social media.
Thomas, who was appointed about a year ago to the auditor’s position, said that they are enacting changes in proceedure to make sure this doesn’t happen again. He stressed during the campaign that there are other aspects of the auditor’s job that are just as important that he has considerable experience with.
