Two of the three candidates running for a spot on the Winlock City Council will advance from the Aug. 1 primary election to the general election in November.
After the election is certified on Aug. 15, Jodie Curtis is nearly sure to have earned one of those spots. As of the Lewis County Auditor’s Office’s preliminary vote tally on Tuesday night, Curtis had earned 120 of the total 184 ballots cast in the race, or 65.22%.
Coming in second place was Eric Contreras, who garnered 44 votes, or 23.91%, while a third candidate, Shelly Allen, saw 17 votes, or 9.24% of those cast in the race. Three ballots were cast with a write-in vote.
Contreras currently sits on the council in a different position, and Curtis previously held a spot among Winlock’s municipal decision makers.
The seat is one of three in the South Lewis County city that are up for election in November, but is the only one where a candidate will be eliminated in the primary. It’s currently held by Lonnie J. Dowell, who did not file for re-election.
In the first round of ballots counted, just 21.82% of Lewis County’s 35,140 registered voters had turned out. Over 7,600 ballots had been counted throughout the county, and the next set of results was slated to come in at 4 p.m. on Aug. 2.
The election will be certified on Aug. 15 at the Lewis County Courthouse.
For questions about the election, visit the Lewis County Auditor’s Office at 351 NW North St., Chehalis or call 360-740-1164. Full preliminary results from the Lewis County primary election can be found here: https://results.vote.wa.gov/results/20230801/lewis.
