Elections 2012: District 31 Incumbents Maintain Solid Leads in Second Day of Elections Returns

The second day of elections returns brought no surprises in both 31st District legislative races.

With updated numbers from both Pierce and King counties as of 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Rep. Cathy Dahlquist now leads with 11,175 votes (62.74 percent) over challenger Brian Gunn with 6,638 (37.26 percent) for Position No. 1.

Rep. Chris Hurst's (10,288 votes) lead over challenger Lisa Connors (7,192 votes) narrowed slightly to 58.86 percent over Connors' 41.14 percent over the .

Hurst said earlier in the day that he was pleased with the initial numbers. "I'm really happy with where we are right now," he said. "Obviously this is just the beginning of the campaign now, towards the general, but we're in a very strong position. ... I'm really gratified by the show of support we got from folks and very thankful that we did so well. ... We'll keep working hard and see where we end up in November."

Reichert's Lead Also Solid

Dave Reichert holds his solid lead of 48.12 percent in the 8th District Congressional primary in Washington, with democrat Karen Porterfield holding the second position with 32.35 percent, making the two the likely candiates in the general election this fall.

Today, Aug. 8, Reichert hosted a , the Seattle Times reports.

So far, 22.43 percent of registered voters' votes have been counted.

Reflections on Voter Turnout

Just under 40 percent of ballots have arrived at the King County Elections office. That is below early projections of turnout, but would be higher than in recent past years, according to county records.

About 435,000 ballots have arrived at the county to date, and more ballots may continue to arrive, said elections spokeswoman Barbara Ramey.

Though the county reported receiving 25 percent of ballots by election day, 150,000 ballots arrived overnight in the mail and through ballot drop boxes, she said.

"A lot of ballots came in yesterday," she said Wednesday morning.

While the ballots have not yet been certified, the total and percentage would surpass the past few recent August primaries. In the 2008 August primary, which had a governor's race, the county had a 34.9 percent voter turnout with 363,197 ballots counted, according to county records. King County primary turnout last broke 40 percent in 2004, when 46 percent of voters turned in their ballots.

Voter turnout has been much lower so far in Pierce County, where, the Pierce County Auditor’s Office had received 104,060 ballots, or about 25 percent of the ballots issued, according to University Place Patch.

Pierce County Elections manager Mike Rooney said the county now expects a return of about 40 percent of the ballots, down from the 48 percent it originally projected.

Rooney said the primary date this year, which was moved up about two weeks, might also be contributing to the turnout.

Secretary of State Sam Reed had predicted a statewide primary turnout of 46 percent. According to an Associated Press story posted Wednesday, Reed's office now wonders whether the primary should be pushed back to June when more people are at home.  However, it will have to be someone else to implement the change -- Reed is leaving office at the end of his term.

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