2015 General Election will feature Klickitat County’s second three-way runoff

It’s the second three-way General Election contest in county electoral history. The first occurred on Nov. 3, 1998, in a race for District 2 County Commissioner.

The candidate who collects the most votes in the three-way runoff will win the election, according to County Auditor Brenda Sorensen.

“Whenever more than one candidate files in the extended 3-day filing period, a lot drawing is held to determine the order the candidates will appear on the General Election ballot,” Sorensen said by e-mail. “The lot draw was held Aug. 10 (the Monday following the three-day filing period). The candidates will appear in the following order: Cindy Martin, Adrian Bradford, and then Bracken G. Kruger.”

Martin and Bradford both filed Wednesday, Aug. 5. Kruger jumped in on Thursday, Aug. 6.

They will be joined on the ballot by Lyle School Board candidates Phil Williams, a former Lyle school principal running for Position No. 3, and Positions 2 and 5 incumbents Barbara Mills and Mark Vorce.

Williams and Vorce are running unopposed for 4-year terms; Mills is unopposed for the remaining 2 years of an unexpired term.

In Klickitat, lately appointed school director Tony Spino filed to complete the remaining 2 years on an unexpired. Spino applied to fill a vacancy created by the recent death of director Johny G. Clarence.

The names of incumbent Klic-kitat school directors Lori Fakesch, Art Justman III, and Andy Schlangen also will be on the ballot. All three are running for 4-year terms.

Jay McLaughlin refiled for Position No. 5 on the Glenwood School Board and will run unopposed on Nov. 3, as will fellow incumbents Jennifer Hallenbeck and David Wasgatt, who filed during May’s official filing period.

In Trout Lake, incumbent school directors Brendan Norman, Ken BeLieu, and Carl Allaway are running unopposed for 4-year terms in Positions 1, 4, and 5.

Dan Armstrong, recently appointed to Position No. 1 on the Bin-gen City Council, filed for a 4-year short and long term, which means he will complete an unexpired term this year before starting a full 4-year term in January, Sorensen explained.

Armstrong’s name will appear on the ballot with council incumbents Isolde Schroder (Position No. 2, 4-year term) and Stephanie Porter (Position No. 3, 2-year term).Bingen Council Position No. 4 went unclaimed, and remains vacant since the resignation of Sandra Guzman.

Voters can update their voter profiles and new voters can register with the Klickitat County Auditor’s Office prior to the General Election.

Oct. 5 is the deadline for voter registrations, address changes, and other updates. Oct. 26 is the deadline for new county residents to register to vote in-person at the Auditor’s Office, at the county courthouse, 205 S. Columbus, in Goldendale.

On Oct. 16, ballots will be mailed to all registered voters in the county to start the 18-day General Election voting period, which ends at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3.