The Kitsap County Elections Division announced a new vote tally late Wednesday for the 2019 General Election.
Here’s our takeaways from a breakdown of the ballots. Results, of course, will change as more ballots are counted, and the vote tallies are not official until validated by the Kitsap County Auditor’s Office.
The big news out of Wednesday was the turnaround in the Central Ward, District 2 race, where incumbent Councilwoman Leslie Schneider squashed challenger Grayson William Wildsmith’s Election Night lead.
Schneider, who was trailing by 61 votes in the initial count, moved in front by 186 votes. That’s a 247-vote swing from the first vote tally.
An analysis of the new vote totals shows that late-arriving votes broke in Schneider’s favor by 62.2 percent — the biggest percentage gain by any Bainbridge council candidate in Wednesday’s vote tally.
In two of three council races featuring incumbents, late-arriving votes broke in favor of the incumbents.
The exception? The Michael Pollock-Sarah Blossom matchup in the South Ward.
In fact, the next biggest gain Wednesday, percentage-wise, went to Pollock, who has beaten Blossom, the incumbent, for the Position 6 seat.
Pollock pulled in 60.6 percent of all new ballots tallied Wednesday.
According to current totals, the marquee local race on the 2019 General Election ballot for Bainbridge voters was the North Ward matchup between incumbent Councilman Kol Medina and challenger Kevin Fetterly.
More Bainbridge voters cast ballots in that race than any other race, including those for the fire district, school board and park district.
A total of 5,923 ballots have been counted so far in the North Ward race.
Next biggest local race Tuesday: the at-large council matchup between Kirsten Hytopoulos and Anthony Oddo, with 5,902 ballots counted so far.
Of council races, the Central Ward race received the least amount of attention from Bainbridge voters, with 5,669 ballots cast so far. (That’s 254 fewer votes received than the North Ward contest.)
Down-ballot races got even less love from Bainbridge voters; 5,349 ballots have been counted so far in the contested park district race for Position 3; a total of 4,978 for the contested Bainbridge school board seat; and 4,935 in the contested fire board race.
Pollock said after Tuesday’s vote his campaign was grassroots-based.
The numbers back him up.
Pollock received more votes than any other Bainbridge candidate through Wednesday’s update: 3,316 votes.
Races by total number of votes
North Ward: 5,923
At-large: 5,902
South Ward: 5,769
Central Ward: 5,669
Vote gains in the second day of counting
At-large
Anthony Oddo added 509 votes to total.
Kirsten Hytopoulos picked up 567 more votes.
New ballots counted Wednesday in race: 1,076.
North Ward
Kol Medina picked up 564 votes.
Kevin Fetterly collected 608 votes.
New ballots counted Wednesday in race: 1,073.
Central Ward
Leslie Schneider added 640 votes.
Grayson William Wildsmith picked up 393 votes.
New ballots counted Wednesday in race: 1,038.
South Ward
Sarah Blossom added 408 votes.
Michael Pollock picked up 632 votes.
New ballots counted Wednesday in race: 1,042.
Percentage of new vote gain in second day of counting
At-large
Oddo pulled in 47.3 percent of Wednesday’s new total.
Hytopoulos won 52.6 percent of new votes added to total.
North Ward
Medina won 52.5 percent of additional ballots counted Wednesday.
Fetterly took 47.3 percent of new votes.
Central Ward
Schneider had 62.2 percent of Wednesday’s new total.
Wildsmith got 38.2 percent of new votes added to total.
South Ward
Blossom pulled in 39.1 percent of ballots counted Wednesday.
Pollock won 60.6 percent of all new ballots tallied.
Bainbridge council power ranking
(Based on total number of votes received)
Pollock: 3,316
Medina: 3,207
Hytopoulos: 3,115
Schneider: 2,898
Oddo: 2,772
Wildsmith: 2,712
Fetterly: 2,705
Blossom: 2,438
Races by total number of votes
North Ward: 5,923
At-large: 5,902
South Ward: 5,769
Central Ward: 5,669
