Smith edges out Macfarlane for school board seat

Smith zooms ahead with 69 percent of 4,384 votes in the initial ballot tally released Tuesday.

With the first crop of election results in, Lynn Smith is on top.

She zoomed ahead with 69 percent of 4,384 votes in the initial ballot tally released Tuesday for the Bainbridge Island School District 1 seat.

Macfarlane, meanwhile, captured 30.6 percent of the vote, pulling in support from 1,341 islanders.

Smith, a graphic designer and longtime school volunteer, has been a vocal advocate of the proposal to replace BHS’ 100 Building. Other key issues highlighted during her campaign have been fair pay for teachers and classified staff and support for special needs and highly capable students.

Macfarlane, a business, media and intellectual property lawyer, also expressed concern over poor school facilities, but had called for a thorough analysis of the costs instead of endorsing a particular proposal. Two of his biggest priorities are to reduce class sizes and to work with the state Legislature to attain full funding.

In the Aug. 4 Primary Election, Smith received 72.1 percent of the vote to Macfarlane’s 25.5 percent, pulling in support from 3,049 islanders. (Macfarlane won 1,077 votes.) Tatiana Epanchin-Troyan, whose name was still on the primary ballot even though she dropped out of the race in July, tallied 1.9 percent with 80 votes.