When Republican Patty Lent outpolled incumbent Tim Botkin in the September primary ballot for Kitsap County Commissioner, nobody thought the die was cast for the general election.
Only voters in the Central Kitsap area, which the candidates were seeking to represent, could vote in the primary.
When the general election came around, and all county voters could cast ballots, the thinking was that Bainbridge Island’s traditionally high and Democratic turnout would return Botkin to office.
It didn’t happen. In fact, Lent’s margin over Botkin was significantly higher in preliminary county-wide returns than it had been in the primary. Lent earned 54.5 percent, to Botkin’s 45 percent.
“This is a bit of a shock,” Lent said at Cloverleaf Tavern and Pizza in East Bremerton, where she spent election evening.
Lent was joined by about 170 of her supporters and volunteers, to celebrate the end of the campaign at the Central Kitsap pub.
“I’m just very excited, and I want to thank all those who worked so hard, every minute, in my campaign,” she said.
Lent’s election to the Kitsap County Board of Commissioners marks the first time in 34 years a Republican majority has prevailed.
And it’s the first time in Kitsap County history the commissioners have all been women. According to Washington State Association of Counties officials, it will be the only entirely female standing board of county commissioners in the state.
“I think Kitsap County is ready for the changes,” Lent said.
On other issues, Kitsap voters joined the anti-tax mood prevalent throughout the state. Voters decisively rejected both a property-tax lid lift, which would have restored $1.2 million to the county budget for court and park services, and the Public Facilities District’s proposed sales-tax hike to build sports and recreation facilities around the county.
Some 61.5 percent of Kitsap County voters rejected the PFD’s sales tax measure, while over 70 percent rejected the property-tax boost.
Linda Niebanck, who spear-headed Friends for Recreation, Parks and Open Space, said the group has yet to reconvene since the PFD proposition was rejected.
“We do need to decide whether it would make sense to approach this again,” she said. “The need for more recreational space is still there. I just think that this particular issue was caught up in the general ‘no’ feeling on tax issues this year.”
Although thousands of absentee ballots remained to be counted, few changes are expected. Among outcomes that won’t change are:
• Sheriff – Kitsap voters gave Sheriff Steve Boyer 84.27 percent of the vote, while his challenger, Libertarian William Johnston, gathered 15.27 percent of the vote;
• Coroner – Republican incumbent Greg Sandstrom received 62 percent of the vote, trouncing Bremerton City Councilman Ed Rollman, who pulled 38 percent;
Other Kitsap officials and judges ran unopposed, receiving over 98 percent of the votes with a smattering of write-ins.
