t New ‘top two’ primary has little impact for island voters.

J. Robin Hunt of Bainbridge punched a return ticket to the state Court of Appeals in Tuesday’s primary, easily eclipsing the 50 percent of votes needed to clinch the seat and fend off challenger Tim Ford.

As a judicial candidate, Hunt needed 50 percent of the vote to win a seat outright in the primary;.Otherwise she would have faced Ford again in the Nov. 4 general election.

Hunt said she was relieved to have the campaign over in August.

“Especially because I was campaigning in six counties, and my job was already pretty much 24-7,” she said.

Hunt has lived on Bainbridge since 1975, and is in her 11th year as a judge in the Court of Appeals District 2, which serves western Washington counties including Kitsap.

Unofficial results released by the Kitsap County Auditor’s office Wednesday showed 39.60 percent of registered county voters voted in Tuesday’s primary, nearly matching the 41 percent who turned out for the February presidential primary.

As of Wednesday, 13,700 votes had yet to be tallied in Kitsap County.

The new “top two” primary had little impact for Bainbridge voters. Most North Kitsap races featured one Democrat and one Republican candidate.

The three Democrats running for reelection to 23rd Legislative District seats made strong showings against their Republican rivals.

Sen. Phil Rockefeller of Bainbridge, Rep. Sherry Appleton of Poulsbo and Rep Christine Rolfes of Bainbridge each won more than 60 percent of the roughly 29,000 votes cast in their races.

County Commissioner Steve Bauer of Hansville, a Democrat who represents Bainbridge and North Kitsap, received more than 65 percent of votes in his race against Republican challenger Sandra LaCelle.

In the four-way race for the South Kitsap county commission seat, Democrat Charlotte Garrido and Republican Tim Matthes emerged as the apparent top two, with Democrat Monty Mahan and independent Paul Nuchims eliminated.

In the primary, voting for county commissioners is limited to the districts they represent. In the general election, county residents can vote in any of the commissioner races.

Superior Court, Court 1 judicial candidates Bruce Danielson and Jeanette Dalton will move on to the November ballot, with neither reaching 50 percent of votes. Gregory Wall had the fewest votes and was eliminated from the race.

Democrat Walt Washington held a lead over Republican John Clark, in his bid for reelection as county auditor.

In the state’s congressional primary, Democrat Rep. Jay Inslee of Bainbridge had garnered more than 67 percent of the 113,000 votes cast in his race against Larry Ishmael.

The primary will be certified in early September.

Full county primary results are available at www.kitsapgov.com. Find statewide primary results at www.vote.wa.gov.