Kitsap County voters have decided to give their veteran lawmakers from across the region another term in office.

Voters were also giving a slim majority to a proposal by Kitsap Transit to raise the sales tax rate to pay for passenger-only ferry service from Kitsap County to Seattle in early vote tallies following Election Day.

Proposition 1 was passing mid-week with a 51 percent “yes” vote.

The “no” vote for Prop. 1 stood at 49 percent late Wednesday.

Kitsap Transit is seeking voter approval to launch passenger ferry service from Bremerton, Kingston and Southworth and downtown Seattle by raising the sales tax rate by 3/10ths of 1 percent.

State Rep. Sherry Appleton was on her way to a seventh term in the District 23, Position 2 seat.

In the latest count of ballots, Appleton, a Poulsbo Democrat, had 59 percent of the vote against Republican challenger Loretta Byrnes, who collected 40.9 percent of the vote.

Both of Bainbridge’s lawmakers in Olympia in the 23rd District, Rep. Drew Hansen and Sen. Christine Rolfes, did not have a challenger on the ballot.

Jeffrey Bassett, the Kitsap Superior Court judge appointed in February, also held his own, capturing 53 percent of the vote to Dale Magneson’s 47 percent.

“I’m very thankful to the voters of Kitsap County for their faith in me,” Bassett said. “I will work hard for them everyday and continue to be open, prepared and accessible to all who come before the court.”

Rep. Derek Kilmer snapped up a third term in Congress.

Kilmer, the incumbent and a Gig Harbor Democrat, was easily dispatching Republican challenger Todd Bloom for the District 6 position in early returns.

On Thursday, Kilmer was ahead with 62.1 percent of the vote, while Bloom had tallied 37.8 percent.

“I’m honored that folks in our region have decided to give me the opportunity to be their voice in our nation’s capital again,” Kilmer said.

“I’m ready to roll up my sleeves and help get our economy and our Congress working for everyone,” he added.

Bloom — who was taking his first shot at elected office — had centered his campaign on the economy, national security, taxes and health care.

Kilmer, by contrast, vowed to help keep the economy on track and fix the broken and unproductive political system in the nation’s capital.

In the only upset of the local races, Debbi Lester, a former Bainbridge Island mayor, unseated incumbent John Armstrong on the Kitsap Public Utility District Commission.

Lester won 55.1 percent of the vote, while Armstrong managed 44.5 percent. Armstrong will leave the commission after 24 years.