Area district voting results show diverse and tight trends

Published 12:23 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008

SNOQUALMIE VALLEY – While North Bend and Snoqualmie residents vote at large for their elected officials, last month’s general election results show that districts within those cities have decisively different opinions when it comes to the right candidate.

Some districts voted overwhelmingly against the winners and others had a slim margin in races that were considered handily won overall, according to canvassing reports released by King County.

In North Bend, where Ken Hearing defeated Ed Carlson for mayor, there were some striking differences. Although Hearing garnered 756 votes to Carlson’s 510 overall, he received only 67 votes to Carlson’s 227 in district 2683, the area surrounding Forster Woods that has the largest number of registered voters (588) in the city. In district 0859, the area surrounding the Silver Creek neighborhood, that ratio was reversed with Hearing receiving 205 votes to Carlson’s 51.

District 2683 also gave Terril Perrine the most support in his losing bid to David Cook for position No. 5 on the North Bend City Council. Perrine received 225 votes to Cook’s 61 in that district and garnered only 30 less than Cook’s 153 votes in district 3296, the area surrounding the Si View neighborhood. Perrine was handily defeated, however, in the city’s other four districts where Cook got as much as two to three times as many votes.

Ross Loudenback, who was defeated by Karen Tavenner for position No. 3 on the North Bend City Council, came the closest to his opponent in district 3407, the area surrounding Opstad Elementary, where he received 64 votes to Tavenner’s 76. District 2683 was the lopsided district that challenged Loudenback’s run the most, with him receiving only 42 votes to Tavenner’s 244.

The closest race in North Bend was between Mark Sollitto and Jonathan Rosen, who both ran for position No. 1 on the North Bend City Council. In district 0858, which includes most of downtown North Bend, Sollitto bested Rosen by only 14 votes and in district 0859, Rosen had 11 more votes than Sollitto. In district 3406, the area surrounding the Nintendo building, and district 3296, the difference between the two was less than 30 in each. Those margins flew wide open, however, in the other two districts. In district 2683, Sollitto got 242 votes to Rosen’s 50. Rosen got twice as many votes as his opponent in district 3407, garnering 106 votes to Sollitto’s 48. Sollitto would carry that race in the end, receiving 684 votes to Rosen’s 553.

In Snoqualmie, where two City Council positions were contested, the results were even closer. Challengers Nate Short and Jeff MacNichols both defeated incumbents Marcia Korich and Dick Kirby, but only by a few percentage points. The two downtown districts, 1097 and 3151, voted overwhelmingly for the incumbents. The two districts combined gave Korich 221 votes to Short’s 45, and Kirby 234 to MacNichols’ 37.

The district that represents the Snoqualmie Ridge neighborhood gave the two challengers the needed votes to win. District 3409, which has more than twice as many registered voters as the two downtown districts combined with 1,813, gave Short 481 votes and MacNichols 494. Korich and Kirby were far from absent in that district, though, receiving 283 and 245 votes respectively to add to their totals. Short went on to beat Korich 526 votes to her 504 votes, and MacNichols got 531 votes to Kirby’s 479.

In the coming years, both cities will be expanding to seven-member councils from the current five. Past North Bend council members and the current Snoqualmie City Council have discussed implementing a ward system for their cities, which would require different parts of the city to be represented by someone who lives there. The ward system is more prevalent in larger cities, but neither North Bend or Snoqualmie has made any firm commitment to the proposed way of representation.

Ben Cape can be reached at (425) 888-2311 or by e-mail ben.cape@valleyrecord.com.