Election 2019: Voters Sink Prop 2; Camas Mayoral Race Goes to Hand Count

The hotly contested 2019 election ended Tuesday as local residents cast their votes on a number of candidates and referendums — sinking the Camas Community Aquatics Center (Prop 2) by nearly 90-10 with write-in candidates possibly upsetting the Camas mayoral race, according to the first results from Clark County Elections Office.

The numbers will be updated each day by 4 pm, and write-in votes will be manually tabulated over the next several days.

With 22 percent voter turnout countywide, here are the vote results of the local Camas and Washougal elections:

Camas Mayor

• Shannon Turk: 1,898 or 40.81%.
• Write-in candidates (including Barry McDonnell, Melissa Smith and Awna Underwood): 2,753 or 59.19%.
• Total votes cast to-date: 4,651.

It’s not clear how the 2,753 write-in votes split among the three write-in candidates, but McDonnell rode the wave of Prop 2, which sank by about 90-10. If he earns 90 percent of the write-in vote, he would earn 2,477 votes. Seventy percent of the write-in votes would put his vote total to 1,927 — still barely ahead of Mayor Turk.

It’s a race that can’t be called until all the write-in votes are tabulated — by hand.

“I think it’s exciting to hear about Prop 2 and that people came out to vote in such large numbers,” said McDonnell, whose mayoral campaign started in early October. “I’m really surprised by the 90-10 results. The Prop 2 issue shows the disconnect between the elected officials and the citizens. The results are not super clear right now but I’m looking forward to seeing the final results to see how this all plays out. I want to figure out first where we land but if this is a win we have a long road ahead. I’m not in this alone. I’m up for the challenge.“

Proposition 2: New Camas Community Aquatics Center

• Yes: 594 or 10.41%.
• No: 5,114 or 89.59%.

A total of 5,708 votes were cast on Prop 2. By contrast, 4,651 votes were cast for mayor — to date.

Camas City Council, Ward 1, Position 1

• Shannon Roberts: 2,501 or 55.83%.
• Deanna Rusch: 1,899 or 42.39%.
• Write-in: 80 or 1.79%.

Camas City Council, Ward 3, Position 1

• Greg Anderson: 2,594 or 71.7%.
• Write-in: 1,024 or 28.3%.

Camas City Council, Ward 2, Position 1

• Bonnie Carter: 3,105 or 92.44%.
• Write-in: 254 or 7.56%.

Camas City Council — At Large

• Don Chaney: 3,104 or 94.69%.
• Write-in: 174 or 5.31%.

Camas City Council, Ward 3, Position 2

• Ellen Burton: 3,012 or 91.19%.
• Write-in: 291 or 8.81%.

Camas School Board

Each of these candidates won their respective races:

• Corey McEnry: 4,107 or 97.51%.
• Connie Hennessey: 4,126 or 97.68%.
• Erika Cox: 4,109 or 97.55%.
• Doug Quinn: 4,188 or 97.53%.
• Tracey Malone: 4,045 or 97.80%.

County Councilor, District 4

• Gary Medvigy: 11,928 or 60.84%.
• Adrian Cortes: 7,630 or 38.91%.

Port of Camas Washougal Commissioner, #2

• Bill Ward: 3,969 or 49.05%.
• Cassi Marshall: 4,063 or 50.21%.

“Currently I’m locked in a tight race with incumbent Bill Ward, but we are ahead,” said Marshall. “We will know more tomorrow at 4 pm.”

Washougal City Council, #7

• Ernie Suggs: 1,490 or 96.63%.

Washougal City Council, #5

• Denise Korhonen: 510 or 25.25%.
• Ray Kutch: 1,495 or 74.01%.

Washougal City Council, #4

• Alexandra Yost: 1,496 or 96.89%.

Washougal City Council, #2

• Michelle Wagner: 1,547 or 97.48%.

Washougal School Director, #1

• Jim Cooper: 1,633 or 64.19%.
• Bill Durgan: 887 or 34.87%.

Washougal School Director, #4

• Cory Chase: 1,852 or 98.09%.

Washougal School Director, #2

• Angela Hancock: 1,858 or 97.84%.

Click here to read a previous Election 2019 article: https://lacamasmagazine.com/2019/10/camas-releases-community-aquatics-center-operations-analysis.html