Yaeger, Bartlett to face off for mayor

RITZVILLE – The dust is settling on the Aug. 1 primary election.

With certification only a week away, the field of candidates advancing to the Nov. 1 general election appears to be complete.

In the race for mayor, City Councilman and county employee Scott Yaeger will be advancing to a race against political newcomer and businessman Cory W. Bartlett.

In a five-way race, Yaeger topped the field with 298 votes, or 49.75% of the ballots cast. Bartlett was a distant second with 157 votes, or 26.21%.

The remaining candidates included Jack Curtis with 90 votes, Glen Stockwell with 22 and Keanu Niezewaag with 29. But only the Top 2 candidates advance to the general election.

All vote counts are unofficial until certified on Aug. 15.

In the race for the Ward No. 1 City Council seat, Jessica Quinn collected 59 votes, or 64.84% of the ballots cast. Dede Boyer was a distant second with 21 votes, or 23.08%.

Both move on to the general election, while a third candidate, David Dahill, was eliminated, having only receive 8 votes, or 8.79%.

Jen Verhey dominated the race for the at-large council seat, posting 368 votes, or 63.45%. Marsha Reimers Smith was the No. 2 candidate, logging only 108 votes, or 18.62%

Those eliminated in the primary race included Dan Peters, Gregory V. Granger and Charles Fred Jingling.

In a ballot measure supporting the Ritzville Water Park, Adams County Parks and Recreation District No. 4's Proposition No. 1 was headed toward approval.

Voters approved the measure by a margin of 531-240, unofficial returns show.

To pass, the levy also needed to be validated by 40% of the voters who cast ballots in the previous general election.

To be validated, the measure only needed 473 total votes to pass.

In other Adams County ballot measures, Hospital District No. 3 (Othello) also had voter support, with 794 votes in favor of a tax levy and only 160 opposed.

And Cemetery District No. 1 (Washtucna), had 86.9% support for its Proposition No. 1.

Unofficial ballot totals as of Monday showed 73 ballots in favor of the cemetery levy and only 11 opposed.

The Washtucna levy needed only 71 total votes to be validated.

The Adams County Auditor's Office Election Department mailed 7,788 ballots to registered voters. The total number returned is 2,094, making voter turnout 26.92% overall.

An estimated 10 late-arriving ballots remained to be counted as of press time.